Soon to become sticky: Another beheading and another
Militants threatens to behead 'US Marine'
9:26 AM June 28
"An armed group saying it has kidnapped a US Marine has threatened to behead the captive unless Iraqi prisoners are released in the war-torn country, according to a video broadcast on Al Jazeera television.
The group, which called itself the "Islamic Retaliation Movement - Armed Resistance Wing," said it had abducted the Marine of Pakistani origin and would execute him unless detainees in US-led coalition prisons were freed.
It identified the US hostage as Hasun Wassef Ali, claiming to have abducted him after "infiltrating a US military base in Iraq".
The US military said it was investigating the claim and that a Marine of Lebanese descent was missing in Iraq.
The spokesman said the Marine belonged to the First Marine Expeditionary Force and had been missing since June 21.
"Contrary to press reports, Naval Criminal Investigative Services cannot confirm Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun was taken hostage," the spokesman said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the US and its allies will never back down in the face of these kinds of threats.
"Iraqi people just want to be left in peace so that later this week they can see the full transfer of sovereignty and be responsible for their own destiny," he said.
Hostage threats
Militants in Iraq have already seized three Turks and a Pakistani man over the past week in a new spate of kidnappings just days before the formal handover of sovereignty by occupying forces to an interim Iraqi government on June 30.
Fighters loyal to Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on Saturday they were holding the Turks and would behead them within 72 hours unless Turks stopped working with US forces.
The threat has cast a shadow over US President George W Bush's visit to Turkey for a NATO summit on Monday and Tuesday.
"They're taking innocent Turkish civilians in this case as a way to make their case and they will not succeed, we cannot yield to this kind of terrorism," Mr Powell said.
Turkey has refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands.
"Turkey has been fighting terrorist activity for more than 20 years," Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul told reporters in Istanbul.
"They ask many things, they demand many things. We never consider them with seriousness."
US reward
Zarqawi's group beheaded a South Korean hostage last week after Seoul rejected a demand to withdraw its forces from Iraq, and last month decapitated a US captive.
Zarqawi has also claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks, most recently a wave of suicide bombings and armed assaults in five cities on Thursday that killed more than 100 Iraqis and three US soldiers."
"Washington has offered $10 million for Zarqawi's capture.
Earlier, an armed group said it would behead a Pakistani within 72 hours unless prisoners are released in Iraq, in a video broadcast by Al Arabiya television.
The Dubai-based satellite news channel showed four hooded gunmen standing behind a man who was described as a Pakistani employee.
A member of the group, reading a statement, said they captured the Pakistani who worked at a US base in Balad, 75 kilometres north of Baghdad, and threatened to kill him within three days unless local detainees were freed.
The ID of the Pakistani was shown, naming him as Yousf Amjid, an employee of US contractor Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton.
Pakistan investigating
Pakistan is trying to confirm the man's identity.
"We are trying to find out the details," Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told AFP.
"We are not sure if he is a Pakistani... Our embassy in Iraq is taking the necessary action."
The hostage said he had travelled to Iraq from neighbouring Kuwait in search of work. He called on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to close his country's embassy in Baghdad and to repatriate all Pakistanis, while urging compatriots to stay away.
"There is no work here. I ask you not to come," he said on Al Arabiya.
Pakistan, the world's second largest Muslim country, opposed the United States' decision to invade Iraq last year without United Nations approval.
It has resisted US and British appeals to send troops to help stabilise Iraq but has said it could consider sending soldiers if asked to do so by the United Nations or the people of Iraq.
Source: AFP Masked Iraq gunmen threaten to behead Pakistani
5:54 AM June 28
An unidentified group of gunmen in Iraq have kidnapped a Pakistani driver and are threatening to behead him within three days unless Iraqi prisoners are released, Al Arabiya television has reported.
"This man was taken after an attack on a US base in Balad," said one of the masked gunmen on a tape Al Arabiya said it had obtained.
"You must release our prisoners held near the US base in Balad, in Dujail, in Yethrib, in Samarra and near Abu Ghraib. You have three days from the date of this recording and after that we will behead him. We have warned you."
The tape also showed the Pakistani man, who was wearing an identity card given to contractors linked to the US military, urging Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to shut down his country's embassy in Iraq.
His comments were translated into Arabic by Al Arabiya.
The Pakistani is the latest foreigner to be taken hostage by Iraqi militants.
On Saturday, suspected militants from Al Qaeda-linked operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group said they had kidnapped three Turkish contractors and threatened to behead them within 72 hours if Turkey did not withdraw all companies working with the US-led occupation forces in Iraq.
The deadline coincides with UN President George W Bush's visit to Turkey for a Nato summit."
Source: Reuters
Just wondering when all the sleeper cells are going to start beheading people in their own countries, just a matter of time is what i think.......
