Iraq Qaeda group says killed captured US troops

DUBAI, June 4 (Reuters) An al Qaeda-led group in Iraq signalled in a Web video today that it had killed three US soldiers after capturing them last month, showing only pictures of ID cards of two missing US soldiers.

''Fearing the occupying army will continue its searches, harming our Muslim brothers ... (the Islamic State in Iraq) decided to settle the matter and announced the news of their killing to cause bitterness to God's enemies,'' said a speaker on the video. ''The three soldiers were captives, then dead bodies.'' The 10-minute video carried a picture of the US Army identification cards of Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez, with the caption: ''(President George W) Bush is the cause of the loss of your captives.'' The video, posted on Web sites often used by al Qaeda and other Islamists, did not provide clear evidence that the two were dead.

In Baghdad, the US military said it was studying the video.

''We are further analysing the video, however it doesn't appear to contain any definitive evidence indicating the status of our missing soldiers,'' Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said in a statement.

The US military has carried out an intensive search and found the body of one of the three US soldiers missing after an attack south of Baghdad last month.

''As you refuse to hand over the bodies of our killed, we shall not deliver the bodies of your dead,'' the off-camera speaker said on the video which also showed credit cards and what it said were other belongings of the two soldiers.

The US military has said it believed the three had been taken by al Qaeda or others associated with the militant group, after the Islamic State in Iraq group said it was holding the soldiers.

The video also showed a group of masked insurgents planning an attack and shaky night footage of what it said was the raid on a US patrol which led to the capture of the three.

The insurgent group, formed last year by al Qaeda's wing in Iraq and several smaller Sunni insurgent groups, has claimed responsibility for mass kidnappings and a series of major attacks.

REUTERS JK BST0335