Al-Qaida-linked group claims killing of Russian hostages

CAIRO, June 26 Kyodo

An al-Qaida-linked group has posted a web video allegedly showing the killing of three Russians abducted in Iraq earlier this month.

The video posted on the group's website Sunday showed the execution of three men believed to be employees of the Russian Embassy in Iraq. Four embassy employees were abducted in Baghdad on June 3.

The Associated Press quoted an accompanying statement by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization linking seven insurgent groups including al-Qaida in Iraq, as saying the fourth kidnapped diplomat was also killed.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying experts are examining shots of the group shown on the Internet site.

Lavrov said in an interview with RenTV on Monday that the recordings ''that have been placed at the site of the organization that has assumed responsibility for the abduction of our people are not fresh,'' Itar-Tass reported.

''A scene of the execution of several people was also shown there, but we do not have one hundred percent confidence that they were our workers,'' Lavrov was quoted as saying in the interview.

The group had demanded Russia pull its forces from Chechnya.

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