'Iraq Qaeda group kills 14 abducted officers'

Dubai, June 14: An Iraqi al Qaeda-led group said today it had killed 14 Iraqi army and police personnel and posted an Internet video showing a masked militant shooting the kneeling men in the head.

''After the deadline given by the Islamic State in Iraq expired the sharia court decided to implement God's ruling against those apostates,'' the group said on the video.

The footage showed the militant shooting the blindfolded men with a pistol in an open field, as off-camera insurgents chanted ''Allah is great''.

The hostages' hands were tied behind their backs.

The authenticity of the tape could not be verified but it was posted on a Web site used by Iraqi insurgents.

The group, which has killed several hostages in the past, had demanded the release of all Sunni men and women held by the Interior Ministry and the handover of officers it said were involved in atrocities against Sunnis in the northern town of Tal Afar.

It also demanded that the Shi'ite-led government hand over officers involved in the alleged rape of Sabreen Janabi, a Sunni Muslim woman.

Janabi has said she was raped by officers from the police force dominated by members of the country's Shi'ite majority. The government said then that medical records showed she was not raped.

In March the bodies of 14 Diyala-based policemen abducted by the group were found shot in the head. The group said then it killed the officers after the government ignored similar demands for their release.

Reuters>