20 September 2004	Monday	04 Shaban 1425

DUBAI, Sept 19: An Al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq claimed it has executed three Kurds taken hostage in Taji, north of Baghdad, according to a statement posted on a website on Sunday.

The three were "soldiers with the traitor Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and are originally from Zakho, a town bordering Turkey", said the statement signed by the military wing of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna that accompanied a video of the killings.

"After their interrogation and the necessary verification, divine justice was applied on the three men, whose throats were slit. "Their bodies were abandoned on the road leading to Mosul," in the north of the country, added the statement, which was accompanied by pictures of the three young men, one of whom was wearing an England T-shirt.

The authenticity of the statement, published on a website, could not be confirmed. In a poor-quality video on the website, the three men were seen making brief comments, apparently identifying themselves, before their throats were slit and the heads placed on top of their bodies.

Three heads and decapitated bodies, thought to be of Iraqi civilians, were discovered on a roadside near Ad-Dujail, between Baghdad and Balad last Wednesday, Iraqi police and the US military said.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi militant group paraded 15 captive national guardsmen in video footage aired by Al-Jazeera television on Sunday with a threat to execute them in 48 hours if a Shia militia commander is not released. The group demanded the immediate release of Hazem al-Araji. -AFP