Iraqi radicals- U.S. Marine is beheaded

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An Iraqi militant group claimed on a Web site Saturday that it had beheaded a captive U.S. Marine, in what would be the fourth decapitation of a foreign hostage in the region since May and the first involving an American serviceman.

The group, called the Ansar al-Sunna Army, posted a written statement on an Islamic web site claiming that it had killed Lebanese-born Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun.

It also said it had taken another hostage but did not give details.

"We would like to inform you that the Marine of Lebanese origin, Hassoun, has been slaughtered. You are going to see the video with your very eyes soon," said the statement, signed in the name of the group's leader, Abu Abdullah al-Hassan bin Mahmoud.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said it was checking into the report of the 24-year-old Hassoun's death but had no confirmation for the moment.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the group's statement.

The group called itself the Ansar al-Sunna Army in Qaim, a town on the Iraqi border with Syria that has seen frequent clashes between U.S. troops and militants. The message was dated June 20, the day the military said Hassoun was first reported missing -- though the posting was dated Saturday.

"We will show a new video of the detention of a new infidel hostage and as recently promised, the beheading of rotten heads," the statement said.

"Withdraw your army and you will be safe," it said. "Or else we will keep doing what we are doing."

On June 27, the Arab television station Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape showing Hassoun blindfolded, along with a statement from militants threatening to kill him unless the United States releases all Iraqis in "occupation jails."

In that initial statement, the kidnappers identified themselves as "Islamic Response," the security wing of the "National Islamic Resistance -- 1920 Revolution Brigades" referring to the uprising against the British after World War I.

Saturday's claim on Hassoun's death was issued on the same Islamic extremist Web forum where footage was posted last month showing the beheading of U.S. engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr, in Saudi Arabia. The site also often carries claims of attacks by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant said to be operating in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi's movement claimed responsibility for the beheading of Kim Sun-il, a South Korean who worked for a company delivering supplies to American forces, and Nicholas Berg, an American businessman, whose body was found in Baghdad in May. Johnson's slaying was claimed by al-Qaida-linked militants in Saudi Arabia, and pictures of his severed head were posted on the Internet.

Another militant group in Iraq claimed last week that it had killed Spc. Keith M. Maupin, an American soldier who had been held captive since April. The military has not yet confirmed that Maupin was shown in grainy video footage of a man being shot in the back of the head.

In Saturday's statement, the militants said they used a woman to trap Hassoun. "As your soldier had a love affair with a young Arab woman, he has been lured from the base," the statement said.

The U.S. military said Hassoun had been absent without authorization since July 20, though after the video was shown it listed his status as "captured."

The New York Times, citing a Marine officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has reported on its Web site that Hassoun had been traumatized after seeing one of his sergeants killed by a mortar, and was trying to make his way back to Lebanon. The officer told the paper that Hassoun sought the help of Iraqis on the base, was betrayed by them, and was handed over the extremists.

Hassoun's eldest brother, Mohammad, who lives in a Salt Lake City suburb, denied the report.

Ansar al-Sunna Army claimed responsibility for the twin suicide attacks on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party offices in Irbil on Feb. 1 that killed 109 people.

At the time, the U.S. military in Iraq believed the group was an offshoot of Ansar al-Islam, but this view later changed. There has been speculation that the group was formed from among Iraqi followers of the strict Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam, which is widely followed in neighboring Saudi Arabia. Critics of the sect accuse it of fostering extremism.