DUBAI (AFP) — An Al-Qaeda front claimed on Saturday to have "executed" five captured Iraqi soldiers, and posted a short video on the Internet allegedly showing their killing.
The video, entitled "Execution of a Divine Judgement," purports to have been made by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and was distributed to a number of websites used by Islamist groups.
It showed five uniformed men, blindfolded and hands tied behind their backs, kneeling as they were shot with pistols from behind by a hooded executioner.
Beforehand, they were shown seated beneath a black banner emblazoned with the name of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Muslim profession of faith: "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet."
The video, whose authenticity could not be established, claimed that this was "an example of the failure of the so-called Operation Arrowhead Ripper."
That was a reference to an offensive launched in June by US and Iraqi troops in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. The province is a microcosm of Iraq, with a mixed population of Sunni and Shiite Arabs, as well as Kurds, and it is a hotbed of secular violence.
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