Militants claim killings of 11 Iraqis
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(CNN) -- A militant group said on its Web site Thursday that it had killed 11 Iraqis, but Iraqi authorities said they couldn't confirm the militants' statement the victims were members of the Iraqi national guard.
The militants said they had beheaded one of the victims and shot 10 others.
The group, the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah, has claimed responsibility for several attacks and kidnappings.
The Iraqi Interior and Defense ministries said they had received no reports of missing personnel. It is thought the men could have been members of a private contracting group.
The victims had been seized recently on a highway between Baghdad and al-Hilla, the group said.
A statement on the militants' Web site offered an explanation for the killings.
"It turned out this group was responsible for guarding the Crusader American troops in the Radwaniya area and what's around it in southern Baghdad," the statement said.
The Web site also has video of the men being killed. As they were being shot, there was a message read on the tape.
"This is a message to the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police. Drop your weapons and go home. Do not back up the Americans and the Iraqi government who work for the crusaders or all you will see from us is death. Know that we love death more than life. Nothing will stop us except death," it said.
The men pictured on the Web site may be members of a private contracting group. The images showed the men wearing armbands labeled "LSF." A U.S. military official said LSF is a private contracting group.
Polish woman reported abducted
Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network, aired video Thursday of what it said was a Polish woman held in Iraq, and the insurgents who kidnapped her demanded that Poland remove its troops from Iraq.
Polish authorities said the woman has dual Polish-Iraqi citizenship, is married to an Iraqi and has lived in Iraq for a long time.
Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski, appearing on Polish TV, said his country won't negotiate with terrorists.
Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said unknown gunmen kidnapped the Polish woman Wednesday in Baghdad. "She is living in Iraq for many years and even she has the Iraqi nationality," Rahman said.
On Wednesday, Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped director of CARE International in Iraq, again pleaded for her life in a videotape on Al-Jazeera, urging Britons to pressure Prime Minister Tony Blair to withdraw troops from the country.
In the video broadcast, Hassan can be seen, but the audio of her pleas could not be heard. An anchor for Al-Jazeera described the contents of her message.
Hassan also called for the release of all female prisoners in Iraq and urged CARE's board of directors to end operations in Iraq -- something the humanitarian aid group already has done since she was taken captive last week.
Hassan was abducted October 19 shortly after arriving at her Baghdad office. Her abductors have made no demands or given an explanation why she was kidnapped.
In another hostage case, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that his nation's troops would remain in Iraq despite threats from insurgents there to kill a Japanese captive.
An Islamist Web site used by a group led by militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi showed video of what it claimed was a member of Japan's military in its custody. The group threatened to behead the man unless Japan agreed to withdraw its troops from Iraq within 48 hours.
Koizumi told Cabinet ministers that Japan's 550-contingent force would remain in Iraq, where it has been participating in humanitarian missions. (Full story)
Other developments
The U.S. Navy will hold court-martial proceedings for two SEALs accused of assaulting a detainee who later died at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, The Associated Press reported Thursday. (Full story)Insurgents shot and killed an anchor for the local Al-Sharqiya TV, her taxi driver and a translator Wednesday night in Baghdad, an official from the station said. The anchor was Liqaa Abdul Razzaq. Journalists' advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said Razzaq's slaying "bears the hallmarks of an execution." Two U.S. soldiers died in separate insurgent attacks Thursday in Iraq, bringing the American death toll in the war to 1,112 fatalities, according to the U.S. military. In the first attack, a soldier died and two others were wounded in a possible car bombing on a convoy in southern Baghdad, the Combined Press Information Center said. At least one Iraqi civilian also was killed in the blast, the center said. South of Balad, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade on a U.S. combat patrol, killing a 1st Infantry Division soldier, the U.S. military said. In Mosul, a roadside bomb struck an American military convoy Thursday morning and wounded a U.S. soldier, a U.S. military spokesman said. The soldier returned to duty after the blast, the military said.Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has agreed to a request from the country's National Council to form a negotiating committee in Falluja that will meet with representatives from the restive city west of Baghdad. The move is the latest government attempt to reach a political solution in Falluja, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have threatened an offensive to root out insurgents linked to al-Zarqawi.The latest U.S. airstrike in Falluja occurred early Thursday, a precision hit on a meeting site used by militants loyal to al-Zarqawi, the Combined Press Information Center said. A city hospital official said two brothers were killed in the attack. The U.S. military had no word on casualties.In Baquba, north of Baghdad, insurgents in a vehicle shot and killed an Iraqi police officer and three other people Wednesday, U.S. military officials said. A police officer and two civilians were wounded in the attack, officials said.An Islamic militant group calling itself the Islamic Army has claimed responsibility for killing an Iraqi diplomat in Baghdad, according to a statement broadcast Wednesday on Al-Jazeera. Qusay Mahdi Saleh, the former Iraqi chief of mission to the United Arab Emirates, was killed Wednesday in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad, Iraqi police said.Insurgents in a moving vehicle shot and killed Subhi al-Ayesh, a member of the Saddam Hussein-era exile group Iraqi National Congress, an INC official said Wednesday. INC spokesman Entifadh Qanbar attributed the killing to "Baathists and remnants of the Saddam regime."CNN's Jane Arraf, Arwa Damon, Kianne Sadeq and Mohammed Tawfeeq and CNNArabic.com's Caroline Faraj contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
