Video 'shows beheading of Polish hostage'
A graphic video is believed to show the execution of a Polish engineer by Pakistani militants who had held him captive for more than four months.
The seven-minute execution video appears to show Polish hostage Piotr Stanczak, sitting on the floor flanked by two masked men. Off camera, a militant briefly engages him in conversation before three others behead him.
One of the hooded men then addresses the camera, blaming Pakistan for the execution for not agreeing to their demands to release Taliban prisoners.
If confirmed, Mr Stanczak's death would appear to be the first killing of a Western hostage in Pakistan since US journalist Daniel Pearl was beheaded in 2002.
The video was given to an Associated Press reporter in north-west Pakistan by an intermediary who said he obtained it from the Taliban.
Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman Shahidullah Baig said the government had "heard about" the existence of the video and was investigating.
Piotr Adamkiewicz, a spokesman at the Polish Embassy in Islamabad, said the mission had seen some images from the video. He said it appeared to show the Polish hostage being killed.
"We are thinking that this is (Mr Stanczak), but we have to wait to receive the full tape," he said.
A spokesman for the Taliban in north-western Pakistan said they killed Mr Stanczak because the government missed a deadline to release 26 prisoners.
Armed men pulled Mr Stanczak from his car on September 28 after killing three Pakistanis travelling with him near the city of Attock, a lawless region believed to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.
Mr Stanczak was surveying oil and gas fields for a Polish geophysics institute.
