DUBAI, Jan 23 (AFP) - The Al-Qaeda linked Army of Ansar al-Sunna released a video Sunday purporting to show the execution of an Iraqi national guard officer accused of helping US forces in the northern city of Mosul.
The video, posted on the Internet, showed a man sitting on a chair and holding up an identity card bearing the inscription "Defense Ministry, Abdul Jabbar Ali Abdullah, colonel."
The man said he had been abducted by the mujahedeen, or holy warriors. He was later shown being shot in the head by a hooded gunman.
"The colonel was taken captive in Mosul, where he had been sent to help US forces seeking to recapture the town from the mujahedeen. He was executed by firing squad after confessing to his crimes," said a statement by the group accompanying the video.
In a separate statement posted on its website and whose authenticity could not be confirmed, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna took credit for a car bomb blast outside the Shiite city of Hilla Saturday which according to medical sources wounded six Iraqi soldiers.
The blast was not far from a Polish military base on the edge of the city in central Iraq.
"One of the heroes of Islam ... drove his booby-trapped car toward a base of the Polish crusader forces in Hilla yesterday ... crashing through a checkpoint near the entrance and blowing up his vehicle," said Ansar al-Sunna's statement, which claimed the attack "killed national guard members protecting the base."
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna has claimed a string of attacks in Iraq, including the murders of foreign hostages and Iraqis accused of "collaborating" with American-led forces. It has often released video footage showing the killings.
The group also claimed a December 21 attack on a US base in Mosul that killed 22 people, including 14 US soldiers.
01/23/2005 16:38 GMT - AFP