The identification cards of Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez. Photo / Reuters
The identification cards of Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez. Photo / Reuters
KEY POINTS:
DUBAI - A web video posted by an al Qaeda-led group in Iraq showed pictures of what appeared to be ID cards of two missing United States soldiers it said it captured last month, suggesting they may have been killed since.
"Fearing the occupying army will continue itssearches, harming our Muslim brothers ... [the Islamic State in Iraq] decided to settle the matter and announced the news of their killing to cause bitterness to God's enemies," said a speaker on the video, obtained from the US-based SITE Institute.
Web sites often used by al Qaeda-linked groups said earlier yesterday that they would soon show the abduction of three Americans, apparently referring to three US soldiers who went missing in May after a clash.
The US military found the body of one of the three, Joseph Anzack. The 10-minute video carried a picture of the US Army identification cards of Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez, with the caption: "[President George W.] Bush is the cause of the loss of your captives. As you refuse to hand over the bodies of our killed, we shall not deliver the bodies of your dead," the off-camera speaker said on the video.
