Zarqawi group beheads two Iraqis

DUBAI - A group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheaded two Iraqis who said they worked at a US base in Iraq and the group posted an internet video of the killings on Friday.

The tape showed two men, who identified themselves as Ali Hussein Jassem Mohammad al-Zubaidi and Ahmad Alwan Hussein al-Mahmadawi, standing in front of a banner bearing the name of Al Qaeda Organisation of Holy War in Iraq.

The tape, which was posted on an Islamist website, later showed militants severing the heads of the two hostages, who were blindfolded with their hands bound behind their backs.

A statement by the group which appeared on the video warned that this would be the fate of those who "sold their religion and honour for the pleasures of life" and labelled them atheists and rejectionists -- what Sunni militants call Shi'ite Muslims.

One of the hostages said he worked for a Lebanese company at a US base in the western city of Ramadi and the other man said he worked as a driver at the base.

"We were told that we would work for a Lebanese company, not a US base," one of the men said.

Zarqawi's group has claimed most of the bloodiest suicide attacks and hostage beheadings as well as assassinations of Iraqi officials.

The United States says Zarqawi, a Jordanian, is its top enemy in Iraq, which has been facing an escalation in Sunni-led militant violence in the run up to national elections this month which Shi'ites are poised to win.

- REUTERS