Al-Qaeda-led group says Russian hostages killed

DUBAI, June 25 (Reuters) An Iraqi al Qaeda-led group today said it had killed four Russian embassy staff it had taken hostage, according to a statement posted on the Internet.

The statement said the posting included footage of the ''execution''. The group had demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from Chechnya and release all Muslim prisoners.

The Web posting showed video footage of the killing of two men it said were Russian hostages and the beheaded body of a third man.

It showed two militants beheading one of the men and the shooting of a second, after showing four men speaking in Russian in video statements dated June 13, 2006.

In Moscow, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman could not immediately confirm the report of the deaths.

The four embassy staff were kidnapped and a fifth was killed when gunmen blocked their vehicle in Baghdad on June 3.

''This is the video for carrying out God's ruling against the Russian diplomats...in revenge for our brothers and sisters for the torture and killing they received at the hands of the infidel Russian government,'' a statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council said.

The al-Qaeda-led Council said in an Internet posting last week it was holding the four Russians and had decided to kill them after Moscow failed to meet its demands.

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