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Purported Iraqi group
executes US soldier
In videotaped and written statements mailed to
Aljazeera, a previously unknown Iraqi group has claimed
it has executed a US soldier it captured in April.
Keith
Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, who was listed as captured on 16
April by the US Department of Defence (DOD), was executed
because the Bush administration did not change its policies in
Iraq, the statement said.
The
group - calling itself the Persistent Power Against the
Enemies of God and the Prophet - claimed the execution was
also in revenge for what it called atrocities committed
against "Muslim martyrs" in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
In the
videotape, which was aired on the Aljazeera early on Tuesday,
Maupin is seen talking to the camera.
He is
dressed in military fatigues.
Aljazeera said it catered to viewers' sensitivities and did
not broadcast the execution but said Maupin appeared
blindfolded in front of a freshly-dug grave with his back to
the camera.
He was
then shot in the head.
Defence
statement
According to a DOD statement, Maupin and Sergeant Elmer
Krause, 40, of Greensboro, North Carolina, were categorised as
duty status - whereabouts unknown on 9 April.
Individuals using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms
fire attacked their convoy. Both soldiers were assigned to the
Army Reserve's 724th Transportation Company, from Bartonville,
Illinois, the statement said.
Aljazeera
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