Website shows photos of Turkish hostage 'killing'

DUBAI - An Islamist website has shown photographs of what it says is the killing of a Turkish hostage in Iraq by a group linked to al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The site showed a sequence of five still pictures, available on Monday, showing the hostage kneeling before armed, masked men standing in front of a banner which resembled that of Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad Group.

One picture showed a masked man holding a gun to the head of the blindfolded hostage and another showed the man lying face down on the floor with blood pouring out of his head.

A video was posted on the site showing the man being shot three times in the head.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the images or to identify the hostage.

A number of Turks have been taken hostage in Iraq and at least two have been reported killed.

On Saturday Al Jazeera television broadcast a videotape from Zarqawi's group threatening to "apply Islamic law" and behead two Turkish drivers unless their company stopped supplying the US military in Iraq and quit the country completely.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq