In an Internet video, a man purported to be the sole survivor of a helicopter shot down in Iraq on Thursday was helped to his feet by gunmen who found him lying in the grass, and moments later they killed him in a spray of bullets, shouting "Allahu akbar," or "God is great."
The video was posted on a Web forum used by Islamic militants and came with a written statement from the Islamic Army in Iraq claiming responsibility for the downing of the civilian helicopter carrying security contractors in which 11 people -- Americans, Bulgarians and Fijians -- were killed.
There was no independent confirmation of the video's authenticity. It showed very little editing.
PHOTO: AFP
Wreckage in the video resembles the aftermath footage filmed by various news outlets at the crash site north of Baghdad.
The video begins with an unseen cameraman running with the camera toward burning wreckage. Two bodies are visible, one of them severely charred, nearly all its clothes burned away.
"Look at that filth," someone says in Arabic at the sight of the body.
There are brief glimpses of a man carrying an assault rifle along with the cameraman.
The scene moves to tall grass, where a man with thinning gray hair and wearing a blue flightsuit is lying on his back, the right side of his head bloody.
"Stand up! Stand up!" the cameraman shouts to him in English.
"I can't, it's broken. Give me a hand," the survivor says in accented English, raising his hands for help.
"Give me your hand," he repeats.
It appears the militants help pull him to his feet.
"Weapons?" the gunmen shout at him in English and Arabic.
The cameraman tells the crewman, whose face is visible, to step back, shouting "Go! Go!"
The survivor then tries to walk, limping with his back to the insurgents, who then say something to him that makes him turn around. He raises his hands to somebody off camera as if gesturing to them to stop what they are about to do.
The militants open fire, shooting him at point blank range and he falls to the ground. The gunmen shoot more bullets into his body as someone shouts "Allahu Akbar."
The Bulgarian-owned helicopter was carrying six American security contractors who worked as bodyguards for US diplomats. Its three crewmembers were Bulgarian, and two other passengers were Fijian helicopter security guards.
In their Web statement, the Islamic Army in Iraq said it killed the surviving crewman "in revenge for the Muslims killed in the mosques of Fallujah."
The statement was apparently referring to an American soldier's shooting a wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque on Nov. 13 during a US offensive in the city.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was