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Web Site Claims Turkish Trucker Beheaded
3 minutes ago
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt - A videotape purporting to show the beheading of a Turkish truck driver kidnapped last month in Iraq (news - web sites) surfaced Monday on the Web site of an al-Qaida-linked militant group.
On the video, the victim identifies himself as Durmus Kumdereli. Speaking in Turkish, he says he was transporting goods to an American military base in Mosul. Arabic subtitles accompanied his words.
Afterward, a black screen reading "the execution" appears, followed by warnings from masked, armed militants to foreign drivers, and grisly footage of the beheading.
The authenticity of the video, which was digitally dated Aug. 17, could not be verified. It was posted on the Web site known for carrying statements from Tawhid and Jihad, a group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that has beheaded other foreign hostages.
The Web site had been inaccessible in recent days before resurfacing Monday at a new address.
In Ankara, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ministry was aware of the video but was unable to confirm Kumdereli's death.
Kumdereli was abducted Aug. 14 outside Mosul after delivering water to a U.S. base in Baghdad. Another Turkish driver, Mustafa Koksal, was taken hostage with him; four days later, the Turkish government said he had been rescued.
The man who identified himself as Kumdereli, reading from a piece of paper, was standing next to another hostage. The militants identified the second man only as another driver whom they decided to release because he had been abducted before a warning was issued. It was not clear who he was or what warning they referred to.
Kumdereli, who said he was from Tarsus, Turkey, advised truckers not to haul supplies to Iraq. He also called on Turkish companies and his government to consider the interests of "their own citizens and stop helping the occupiers."
He said in Turkish that he was transporting goods to an American military base in Tikrit; the Arabic subtitles indicated it was to a base in Mosul. Past reports have indicated he was abducted near Mosul.
"My advice to my truck driver friends is ... don't carry goods to Americans. You should know that Turkish companies that have contracted with American companies do not care about the lives of their workers. They only think of the money they will earn. Their eyes see nothing but money," he said.
Three militants appeared in the video under a black banner of the Tawhid and Jihad; two were carrying guns and the third read from a statement.
"We have forewarned. ... We will slaughter this driver and release the other," the man read. "Let it be known from today, any drivers with us will see nothing but slaughtering, whether Arabs or non-Arabs."
Last month, Murat Yuce, a Turk who worked for a company that provided laundry services, was shot to death in Iraq by al-Qaida-linked militants loyal to al-Zarqawi, who is held responsible for a series of bombings, kidnappings and other attacks in Iraq.
In a separate kidnapping case in early September, a tape purporting to show three Turkish hostages being killed was sent to Al-Jazeera TV from the Tawhid and Jihad militant group, which also is linked to al-Zarqawi. The bodies of two slain Turkish citizens and an unidentified man were discovered in northern Iraq later but it could not be confirmed whether the bodies found in northern Iraq belonged to the three men in the video. |
