Iraq: Alleged death squad members beheaded in new video

June 10, 2006

A new video posted on the internet by Iraqi insurgents shows the beheading of three men, whom the killers allege are members of a death squad. Insurgents say the beheadings are in retaliation for the killing of Sunnis. The Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sunnah has posted the video and claimed responsibility for the killings.

"They are with a death squad group, whose mission is to capture Sunnis in quick operations on the main streets of Baghdad and its surroundings," said the group in a statement posted on its website. The statement also says that judges for the group sentenced the members of the squad to death "so justice is served and also as revenge for our sisters... and brothers who were killed and are killed every day at the hands of those apostates."

The video shows the victims held at gunpoint, they identify themselves as being part of a death squad and are then beheaded.

"Whoever insists on fighting Islam and Muslims and joins the apostasy army, we say to him, 'You will not go any further without us targeting you, God willing. And you will not drive a car without us following you. And you will remain to live in terror until we terminate you so your end becomes in hell, and what a humiliating ending it is," continued the statement.

It is not known when the video was made and the victims have not been identified.