Bulgarian hostage beheaded
2004-07-13 22:44
Doha - A Bulgarian truck driver taken hostage in Iraq has been beheaded by his captors, the Arab satellite television al-Jazeera said on Tuesday.
The Doha-based station said it had received a video of the execution purportedly by the Tahid wal Jihad group of suspected al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
The group threatened to kill another Bulgarian hostage it was holding unless its demand was met for the release within 24 hours of Iraqi prisoners detained by the US military in Iraq, said al-Jazeera.
Truck drivers Ivailo Kepov and Georgy Lazov were taken hostage near the northern Iraqi town of Mosul last Thursday.
Foreign minister Solomon Passy appealed to the kidnappers to show "pity for the poor and the sick" in keeping with the Islamic faith, as Lavoz suffered from diabetes and Kepov had apoplexy.
Won't bow to 'blackmail'
In what was believed to be footage of the Bulgarians, al-Jazeera television last week showed two squatting and handcuffed held by masked men of Tahid wal Jihad.
The group is reportedly led by Zarqawi, a Jordanian who carries a US$25m bounty on his head and is accused of organising dozens of deadly attacks in Iraq.
The Bulgarian government, which has 470 soldiers in Iraq, has vowed not to bow to "blackmail" and since the initial deadline for its hostages expired on Friday, the nation has been gripped by anxiety about the fate of the two men.
The Iraqi government said earlier on Tuesday the two Bulgarians, as well as a Filipino hostage, were believed to be still alive.
"We have not received any statement that says they have been killed, nor have we uncovered a body," said Colonel Adnan Abdul Rhaman, the interior ministry's chief spokesperson.