Confusion over claimed beheading of US Marine

BAGHDAD - A militant group denied yesterday that it had beheaded a United States Marine in Iraq who was seen earlier in televised pictures being threatened by his captors with a sword.

Fears for Lebanese-born Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, 24, had risen after a statement appeared on two internet sites on Sunday saying the Army of Ansar al-Sunna had decapitated him.

"This statement that claimed to be from us has no basis in truth," the Army of Ansar al-Sunna said on what it called its official website. But the group said it believed that killing "such filth brings one closer to God".

There was no way to verify which, if either, of the statements attributed to Ansar al-Sunna was authentic.

The US military, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry and Hassoun's family said they had no evidence he was dead.

To compound the confusion over Hassoun's fate, his kidnapping was first claimed by a group calling itself the Islamic Response Movement.

Arabic Al Jazeera television aired a videotape a week ago of militants holding a sword over a blindfolded Hassoun.

The US military says Hassoun has been missing since June 21.

Hours after the US handover to an Iraqi interim government last week, Al Jazeera broadcast a tape showing what militants said was the killing of US Private Keith Matthew Maupin, 20. His death has not been confirmed.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq