ROME, Sept 23: Italy sought on Thursday to play down the credibility of two claims for the murder of two Italian aid workers, both young women, taken hostage in Iraq, but failed to ease gnawing anguish over their fate.

The authorities in Rome have "undertaken a series of actions, and for the moment, no proof has been found" to back up the alleged execution of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, the government said in a statement.

It said it was still investigating the claims, both posted on the Internet, one on Wednesday night by a so-called Jihad Organization, the second a few hours later by a group calling itself the Supporters of Zawahiri, named after the Egyptian number two in the Al Qaeda network, Ayman al Zawahiri.

The first group claimed it had "slaughtered" the two women because Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had not withdrawn Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq. The second said the woman had been killed "in response to the bloody and atrocious attack carried out by Italian forces on the Iraqi people of the city of Nasiriyah".

"The heads of the two Italian criminals, Italian intelligence agents Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, were mercilessly cut off with a knife," the second group said, adding that it would broadcast a video to back up their claim. It was impossible to verify the authenticity of either claim. -AFP