An extremist group, the Islamic Army of Iraq, posted a video on a Web site yesterday that showed an unidentified man being shot in the back of the head, and the group claimed the killing was of US adviser Ronald Allen Schulz.
The video did not show the face of the victim, however, and it was impossible to identify him conclusively. The victim was kneeling with his back to the camera, with his hands tied behind his back and blindfolded with an Arab headdress when he was shot.
In a separate piece of film, shown on a split screen as the killing was aired, the extremist group also showed a picture of Schulz alive. The group had aired the same footage of Schulz alive when he was first taken hostage earlier this month.
PHOTO: AP
In an earlier Internet posting last week, the group had claimed it killed Schulz, and then later said it would show the killing.
Schulz, a civilian contractor, has been identified by the extremist group as a security consultant for the Iraqi Housing Ministry, although neighbors and family from Alaska, where he lives, say he is an industrial electrician who has worked on contracts around the world.
Schulz, a native of North Dakota, served in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1991. He moved to Alaska six years ago, and friends and family say he is divorced.
The videotaped killing showed the man being shot as he kneeled in an open, empty area of dirt. The video also showed Schulz's identity card.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded outside a children's hospital in western Baghdad yesterday, killing at least two people and wounding 11, including seven policemen, officials said.
Police believe the bomb had been targeting a passing convoy carrying a police colonel, who was among the injured.
In western Baghdad, gunmen attacked the convoy of the city's Deputy Governor Ziad Tariq, killing three civilians and wounding three of Tariq's bodyguards, Baghdad police said. Tariq was not injured.
A string of violent attacks, including shootings and bombings, began Saturday night, shattering the relative calm since Iraq's parliamentary election last week.
In a speech on Sunday, US President George W. Bush praised the vote and warned against a pullout of US forces.
Hours before Bush spoke, US Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit to Baghdad, saying the election's strong turnout had brought Iraq closer to taking control of its own security. But Cheney also cautioned against a rapid US withdrawal.
Bush said last week's voting would not end violence in Iraq but "means that America has an ally of growing strength in the fight against terror."
He warned that a US troop pullout would "signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word."
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
A Japanese city would urge all smartphone users to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school under a proposed ordinance that includes no penalties. The limit — which would be recommended for all residents in Toyoake City — would not be binding and there would be no penalties incurred for higher usage, the draft ordinance showed. The proposal aims “to prevent excessive use of devices causing physical and mental health issues... including sleep problems,” Mayor Masafumi Koki said yesterday. The draft urges elementary-school students to avoid smartphones after 9pm, and junior-high students and older are advised not
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
RSS