Macedonian 'spies' executed in Iraq - video
A militant group in Iraq has executed two Macedonian men accused of spying for the US, an Arab TV station reported today.
Al-Jazeera broadcast a video from the Islamic Army in Iraq saying the Macedonians were captured "a few days ago outside an American base in Iraq".
The network aired parts of the video showing the two holding Macedonian passports, ID cards and driving licences but did not show them being killed.
The Islamic Army in Iraq has previously claimed responsibility for kidnapping six Iraqis, two Lebanese and two Indonesian women. It also said it was behind the seizing of two French journalists in August.
Macedonian officials had previously announced that three Macedonian contractors went missing in Iraq in August.
Ljube Lazarevski, the father of one of the missing Macedonians, as saying he recognised his son Dalibor on the video.
Macedonia has 32 troops in Iraq, stationed north of Baghdad.
An al-Jazeera editor said the tape showed the killing of the two men.
"They were thrown on their backs and beheaded," he said. "But we refrain from showing such grisly images so as not to offend the sensitivities of the viewers."
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