BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A group linked to al Qaeda said it has killed four Russian diplomats it had held hostage, according to a statement and video on a Web site Sunday.
The group -- the Mujahedeen Shura Council -- said it had beheaded three of the men and shot one to death.
A video also posted on the Web site appeared to show one of the men being beheaded, another man already beheaded and a third man being shot in the head. The fourth man did not appear in the video.
Russian officials were trying to verify the development.
The same group posted a statement last Monday demanding Moscow withdraw its troops from Chechnya and "release all our brothers and sisters" from prison within 48 hours.
In the statement last week, the group added, "God enabled the lions of unification to capture four Russian diplomats in Iraq and kill a fifth," alluding to an attack June 3, when a car belonging to the Russian Embassy in Iraq came under fire.
Embassy official Vitaly Titov was killed in the attack, and diplomats Fyodor Zaitsev, Rinat Agliuglin, Anatoly Smirnov and Oleg Fedoseyev were kidnapped.
Their claims could not be verified, but the Web site has been used by insurgent groups in the past to post messages.
2 U.S. soldiers charged in Iraqi's death
The U.S. military announced Sunday it has charged two soldiers in the death of an unarmed Iraqi in February in Ramadi.
The two soldiers, Spec. Nathan B. Lynn and Sgt. Milton Ortiz, Jr., are both members of the Pennsylvania National Guard's 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry (Mechanized).
According to the military news release, Lynn was charged with one count of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly shooting the man on February 15 in front of a home near Ramadi.
Lynn and Ortiz each face one count of obstructing justice. They are accused of conspiring with another soldier who allegedly placed an AK-47 assault rifle near the wounded Iraqi man.
That soldier was redeployed and demobilized before criminal proceedings were initiated.
Ortiz was also charged with assault and communicating a threat in a separate incident on March 8, when he allegedly placed an unloaded weapon against the head of an Iraqi civilian and threatened to send him to prison.
Both soldiers have been transferred to a military base in Baghdad ahead of the Article 32 hearings to determine if there is enough evidence for a court-martial.
Word of the charges against Lynn and Ortiz comes just days after seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged on Wednesday with kidnapping and killing a civilian in Hamdaniya, Iraq, in April.(Full story)
PM presents reconciliation plan
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday announced his national reconciliation plan, which extended an olive branch to some Iraqi militants and granted the phased release of 2,500 detainees from Iraqi prisons.
Al-Maliki's plan is aimed at placating militant Sunni factions and countering sectarian strife in the country, as well as outlining the steps for Iraqis to assume control of the volatile security situation.
One portion of the plan includes the release of 2,500 detainees from Iraqi prisons; those releases already have begun.
"We need to drum up support to face the criminals and the terrorists to reactivate our economy by creating jobs, and giving opportunities and providing services to the people so to show everyone that we are serious in our commitment to serve our nation," al-Maliki said.
The prime minister's plan, which he presented to parliament, stipulates amnesty will be granted to detainees who "have not committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against Iraqis and acts of violence."
Earlier this month, a report about the amnesty program met with a storm of protest after The Washington Post ran an article quoting a "top adviser" who said al-Maliki's reconciliation plan "is likely to include pardons for those who had attacked only U.S. troops."
Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie has since denied the report, saying "Iraqi blood is as sacred as the American blood" and that al-Maliki intends to have "selective amnesty" for prisoners who have not committed crimes against Iraqi civilians, Iraqi soldiers or coalition forces.
Other developments
# Violence against citizens unloading furniture, riding in minibuses, walking on the streets and shopping in markets left 12 dead, 16 kidnapped and many more wounded in Iraq Sunday.
# The U.S. commander in charge of coalition forces in Iraq calls for large reductions in the American force in Iraq, starting in September and continuing through 2007, according to a report in Sunday's New York Times. In the plan proposed by Gen. George Casey, two combat brigades -- about 7,000 troops -- would rotate out of Iraq without being replaced, the Times reported, quoting unnamed U.S. officials. (Full story)
# A roadside bomb attack Saturday hit a U.S. military convoy south of Baquba, killing a U.S. soldier, the U.S. military announced Sunday. The soldier was a member of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division "Band of Brothers," the military said. On Saturday two U.S. soldiers died in a bombing attack south of Baghdad, the military said. The deaths bring to 2,513 the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict.
# U.S. forces released a revered 70-year-old Sunni cleric on Saturday hours after detaining him, Iraqi officials said. Crowds earlier gathered to denounce the early morning raid on the Tikrit home of Sheik Jamal Abdul Karim al-Dabban. The raid was described as "outrageous" by a key political party. U.S. forces told Iraqi authorities that bad intelligence led to the raid and detention of al-Dabban and two of his sons, officials from Salaheddin province said. (Full story)
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Arwa Damon and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
Group claims Russian hostages slain and beheaded
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Group claims Russian hostages slain and beheaded
Last edited by Janice on Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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kevin
To think we used to oppose Russian policy in Chechnya. Russia had committed numerous war crimes in Chechnya, whether directed from above or spontaneous from below. Not that this excuses the murder of diplomats. Chechnya and Russia will always remain enemies, its horrible how these fault lines of hatred continue to exist throughout the centuries.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A group linked to al Qaeda said it has killed four Russian diplomats it had held hostage, according to a statement and video on a Web site Sunday.
The group -- the Mujahedeen Shura Council -- said it had beheaded three of the men and shot one to death.
A video also posted on the Web site appeared to show one of the men being beheaded, another man already beheaded and a third man being shot in the head. The fourth man did not appear in the video.
Russian officials were trying to verify the development.
The same group posted a statement last Monday demanding Moscow withdraw its troops from Chechnya and "release all our brothers and sisters" from prison within 48 hours.
In the statement last week, the group added, "God enabled the lions of unification to capture four Russian diplomats in Iraq and kill a fifth," alluding to an attack June 3, when a car belonging to the Russian Embassy in Iraq came under fire.
Embassy official Vitaly Titov was killed in the attack, and diplomats Fyodor Zaitsev, Rinat Agliuglin, Anatoly Smirnov and Oleg Fedoseyev were kidnapped.
The claims could not be verified, but the Web site has been used by insurgent groups in the past to post messages.
PM offers olive branch
The disclosure of the Russian diplomats' deaths -- and deadly violence across the country -- unfolded on an important day for the Iraqi government.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday announced his national reconciliation plan, which extended an olive branch to some Iraqi militants and granted the phased release of 2,500 detainees from Iraqi prisons. Those releases already have begun. (Watch violence temper hopes for plan -- 2:39)
Al-Maliki's plan is aimed at placating militant Sunni factions and countering sectarian strife in the country, as well as outlining the steps for Iraqis to assume control of the volatile security situation.
"We need to drum up support to face the criminals and the terrorists to reactivate our economy by creating jobs, and giving opportunities and providing services to the people so to show everyone that we are serious in our commitment to serve our nation," al-Maliki said.
The prime minister's plan, which he presented to parliament, stipulates amnesty will be granted to detainees who "have not committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against Iraqis and acts of violence."
U.S. senators called al-Maliki's plan a positive step but expressed concerns about its amnesty provision. (Full story)
Diyala bears brunt
Insurgents on Sunday cranked up their assaults throughout Iraq, killing at least 32 people in scattered attacks, mostly in Diyala province, and kidnapping 16 others in a brazen abduction in Taji.
Gunmen killed 23 people on Sunday in nine separate incidents in Diyala, an official with the provincial police Joint Coordination Center told CNN.
In Baquba, the provincial capital, gunmen sped through the streets and opened fire, killing three people -- including a high-ranking police officer -- in three separate shootings between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., a Baquba police official said.
Gunmen also shot and killed four oil-tanker drivers on a highway nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Baquba in Mandali, near the Iranian border.
In Muqdadiya, about 24 miles north of Baquba, three people were killed and another wounded when gunmen attacked a civilian car about 1:30 p.m.
Minutes later in the same town, a drive-by shooting resulted in the death of an Iraqi police officer and wounded three other bystanders. Gunmen in Muqdadiya also killed three Iraqi police about 3:30 p.m.
Insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades gunned down soldiers at an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing six and wounding four others, at 3 p.m. in Khan Bani Saad, about 12 miles south of Baquba.
Three more Iraqi police officers were killed around 4 p.m. near a bus station in central Baquba after gunmen opened fire at them in a drive-by shooting.
In Baghdad, two people were killed and five wounded when a bomb exploded in a minibus around noon, emergency police officials said.
Four passers-by at the Shorja market in central Baghdad were killed and 23 wounded when a bomb ripped through the area around 11:30 a.m., a Baghdad emergency police official said. (Watch aftermath of market bombing in Baghdad -- :50)
An hour earlier in eastern Baghdad, a car bomb detonated at a police checkpoint, killing one police commando and wounding three others, a Baghdad emergency police official said.
In the northern city of Mosul, two guards were killed and four others injured when a truck bomb exploded outside the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a top Shiite political movement.
2 U.S. soldiers charged in Iraqi's death
The U.S. military announced Sunday it has charged two soldiers in the death of an unarmed Iraqi in February in Ramadi.
The two soldiers, Spec. Nathan B. Lynn and Sgt. Milton Ortiz, Jr., are members of the Pennsylvania National Guard's 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry (Mechanized).
According to the military, Lynn was charged with one count of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly shooting the man on February 15 in front of a home near Ramadi.
Lynn and Ortiz each face one count of obstructing justice. They are accused of conspiring with another soldier who allegedly placed an AK-47 assault rifle near the wounded Iraqi man.
That soldier was redeployed and demobilized before criminal proceedings were initiated.
Word of the charges against Lynn and Ortiz comes just days after seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged with killing a civilian in Hamdaniya, in April. (Full story)
Separately, four soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were charged last week in connection with the shooting deaths of three detainees in Salaheddin province in May, the military said. (Full story)
Other developments
# Iraq's new oil minister said Sunday that Iraq's daily oil production is 2.5 million barrels per day and it hopes to be a major oil-producing country in 10 years. Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," Hussain Shahristani said "That's a record since the fall of Saddam Hussein regime in April 2003."
# Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander in charge of coalition forces in Iraq, calls for large reductions in the American force in Iraq, starting in September and continuing through 2007, according to a report in Sunday's New York Times. (Full story)
# A roadside bomb attack Saturday hit a U.S. military convoy south of Baquba, killing a U.S. soldier, the U.S. military announced Sunday. The death brings to 2,513 the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Arwa Damon and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
The group -- the Mujahedeen Shura Council -- said it had beheaded three of the men and shot one to death.
A video also posted on the Web site appeared to show one of the men being beheaded, another man already beheaded and a third man being shot in the head. The fourth man did not appear in the video.
Russian officials were trying to verify the development.
The same group posted a statement last Monday demanding Moscow withdraw its troops from Chechnya and "release all our brothers and sisters" from prison within 48 hours.
In the statement last week, the group added, "God enabled the lions of unification to capture four Russian diplomats in Iraq and kill a fifth," alluding to an attack June 3, when a car belonging to the Russian Embassy in Iraq came under fire.
Embassy official Vitaly Titov was killed in the attack, and diplomats Fyodor Zaitsev, Rinat Agliuglin, Anatoly Smirnov and Oleg Fedoseyev were kidnapped.
The claims could not be verified, but the Web site has been used by insurgent groups in the past to post messages.
PM offers olive branch
The disclosure of the Russian diplomats' deaths -- and deadly violence across the country -- unfolded on an important day for the Iraqi government.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday announced his national reconciliation plan, which extended an olive branch to some Iraqi militants and granted the phased release of 2,500 detainees from Iraqi prisons. Those releases already have begun. (Watch violence temper hopes for plan -- 2:39)
Al-Maliki's plan is aimed at placating militant Sunni factions and countering sectarian strife in the country, as well as outlining the steps for Iraqis to assume control of the volatile security situation.
"We need to drum up support to face the criminals and the terrorists to reactivate our economy by creating jobs, and giving opportunities and providing services to the people so to show everyone that we are serious in our commitment to serve our nation," al-Maliki said.
The prime minister's plan, which he presented to parliament, stipulates amnesty will be granted to detainees who "have not committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against Iraqis and acts of violence."
U.S. senators called al-Maliki's plan a positive step but expressed concerns about its amnesty provision. (Full story)
Diyala bears brunt
Insurgents on Sunday cranked up their assaults throughout Iraq, killing at least 32 people in scattered attacks, mostly in Diyala province, and kidnapping 16 others in a brazen abduction in Taji.
Gunmen killed 23 people on Sunday in nine separate incidents in Diyala, an official with the provincial police Joint Coordination Center told CNN.
In Baquba, the provincial capital, gunmen sped through the streets and opened fire, killing three people -- including a high-ranking police officer -- in three separate shootings between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., a Baquba police official said.
Gunmen also shot and killed four oil-tanker drivers on a highway nearly 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Baquba in Mandali, near the Iranian border.
In Muqdadiya, about 24 miles north of Baquba, three people were killed and another wounded when gunmen attacked a civilian car about 1:30 p.m.
Minutes later in the same town, a drive-by shooting resulted in the death of an Iraqi police officer and wounded three other bystanders. Gunmen in Muqdadiya also killed three Iraqi police about 3:30 p.m.
Insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades gunned down soldiers at an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing six and wounding four others, at 3 p.m. in Khan Bani Saad, about 12 miles south of Baquba.
Three more Iraqi police officers were killed around 4 p.m. near a bus station in central Baquba after gunmen opened fire at them in a drive-by shooting.
In Baghdad, two people were killed and five wounded when a bomb exploded in a minibus around noon, emergency police officials said.
Four passers-by at the Shorja market in central Baghdad were killed and 23 wounded when a bomb ripped through the area around 11:30 a.m., a Baghdad emergency police official said. (Watch aftermath of market bombing in Baghdad -- :50)
An hour earlier in eastern Baghdad, a car bomb detonated at a police checkpoint, killing one police commando and wounding three others, a Baghdad emergency police official said.
In the northern city of Mosul, two guards were killed and four others injured when a truck bomb exploded outside the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a top Shiite political movement.
2 U.S. soldiers charged in Iraqi's death
The U.S. military announced Sunday it has charged two soldiers in the death of an unarmed Iraqi in February in Ramadi.
The two soldiers, Spec. Nathan B. Lynn and Sgt. Milton Ortiz, Jr., are members of the Pennsylvania National Guard's 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry (Mechanized).
According to the military, Lynn was charged with one count of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly shooting the man on February 15 in front of a home near Ramadi.
Lynn and Ortiz each face one count of obstructing justice. They are accused of conspiring with another soldier who allegedly placed an AK-47 assault rifle near the wounded Iraqi man.
That soldier was redeployed and demobilized before criminal proceedings were initiated.
Word of the charges against Lynn and Ortiz comes just days after seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged with killing a civilian in Hamdaniya, in April. (Full story)
Separately, four soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were charged last week in connection with the shooting deaths of three detainees in Salaheddin province in May, the military said. (Full story)
Other developments
# Iraq's new oil minister said Sunday that Iraq's daily oil production is 2.5 million barrels per day and it hopes to be a major oil-producing country in 10 years. Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," Hussain Shahristani said "That's a record since the fall of Saddam Hussein regime in April 2003."
# Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander in charge of coalition forces in Iraq, calls for large reductions in the American force in Iraq, starting in September and continuing through 2007, according to a report in Sunday's New York Times. (Full story)
# A roadside bomb attack Saturday hit a U.S. military convoy south of Baquba, killing a U.S. soldier, the U.S. military announced Sunday. The death brings to 2,513 the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict.
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Arwa Damon and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
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