Gunmen shouting "God is Great" dragged what appeared to be the burning body of a US pilot in a horrific video posted on Wednesday on the Web by a new al-Qaeda-affiliated group that claimed it shot down an Apache helicopter last weekend.
The US military expressed outrage over the release of "such a despicable video for public exposure," but said it could not confirm the authenticity. The date stamp on the video was Sunday, April 2, a day after the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter was downed southwest of Baghdad, killing the two pilots.
Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the US command, said the wreckage shown on the video "does appear to be an AH-64," but added that other helicopters of that type have been lost.
"We have serious doubts about the authenticity of this video, a common tactic we see terrorist groups use to keep the stories they want alive in the media," he said.
A US statement said troops had recovered "all available remains" although "reports of a Web site video suggest that terrorists removed part of a body from the crash site," near Youssifiyah, about 20km southwest of Baghdad.
"We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Withington, a US spokesman, said. "Terrorists continue to demonstrate their immoral disregard for human dignity and life."
Although the images were blurry, the flaming wreckage of a helicopter could be seen clearly, including outlines of the aircraft's blades and jagged pieces of wreckage strewn over a field.
The camera panned over bloodstained wreckage, then showed several men dragging the burning body of a man across a field as they shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Great" in celebration. Voices could be heard in the background shouting "come, come, help me carry it."
The body's face was not visible, but the camera zoomed in on what appeared to be his waistline, which showed a scrap of underwear with the brand name "Hanes" on it.
It appeared the man was wearing tattered digital camouflage fatigues, which are worn by US troops in Iraq.
In Alexandria, Virginia, Ben Venzke, head of IntelCenter, a defense contractor which monitors militant statements, said it appeared on first viewing that the tape was authentic.
He also said the discrepancy on the times could be simply a technical error in the setting.
"Based on an initial review of the footage, it would seem to indicate the downing of a helicopter and the removal of crew and passengers from the craft," he said. "On an initial review, it does appear to be what it purports to be."
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS