Blair: Beheading barbaric
2004-05-12 15:47
London - Prime Minister Tony Blair has described the beheading of an American civilian broadcast on the internet as "truly barbaric".
Sky News reported that Blair said there was "no justification" for such an act, carried out by suspected al-Qaeda followers in Iraq.
US contractor Nick Berg's executioners have vowed more killings in revenge for the prisoner abuse scandal.
Shortly before he was killed, Berg named himself saying he was from Philadelphia and had a brother and sister.
The poor quality videotape on the site showed a man dressed in orange overalls kneeling on the floor with his hands tied back.
There were five masked men behind him. One read a statement urging Muslims to take revenge over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.
The masked men then pushed the 26-year-old American to the floor and shouted "God is greatest" above his screams.
His head was cut off with a knife then held aloft for the camera.
The website said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top ally of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was the man who cut off Berg's head.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi, 37, has raised his profile and status as al-Qaeda's most active operational leader with a series of suicide bombs and attacks on US troops in Iraq.
A body found in Baghdad over the weekend was identified as Berg's.
US Senator John McCain said: "These people have no regard for humanity or any other common decency... and that's why we've gotta win in Iraq."
Berg's family said that they had been aware that he had been beheaded but had not known the details of his killing.
"I knew he was decapitated before. That manner is preferable to a long and tortuous death. But I didn't want it to become public," said his father, Michael.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "If this is genuine, then it is utterly repugnant and indefensible."