Jihadi Du Jour: Iraq Al Qaeda Chief In Execution Video

Terror Chief Purportedly Appears As Executioner Of Turkish Hostage

(AP) CAIRO, Egypt The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq has purportedly appeared in video as the executioner of a Turkish hostage — making his first appearance since taking over the group in June — according to a statement posted with the recording on the Internet.

The items were posted Friday night just after Iraq announced that Ramadan would begin Saturday. The statement said the recording, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified, was "old," but gave no other indication about when it was made.

Three men masked in red and white scarves stand behind the hostage who is seated on the ground wearing a tan shirt.

The man in the middle, identified by the accompanying statement as al-Masri, criticizes companies and people working with the U.S. military. "Although we have urged Muslims around the world and in Turkey, in particular, ... they insist, including this apostate," al-Masri said in Arabic, reading from a piece of paper.

The hostage reading from a statement in Turkish, translated into Arabic by subtitles, identifies himself as Murad Buger, an employee of a Turkish company subcontracting for a Jordanian company that provides services to U.S. military bases.

"I have seen the injustice of the Americans with my own eyes but I stayed for few dollars," Buger says, adding, "torture is intensifying in Abu Ghraib (prison)."

He then urges Turkish companies to withdraw from Iraq.

Al-Masri then shoots Buger in the head three times.

Welcome to the videodrome, al-Masri [translated-coward]. Nice script for your victim.

Also from Cairo:

An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web video Saturday purporting to show the bodies of two U.S. soldiers being dragged behind a truck, then set on fire in apparent retaliation for the rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman by troops from the same unit.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council - an umbrella organization of insurgent groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq - posted another video in June showing the soldiers' mutilated bodies and claiming it killed them. It was not clear whether the video posted Saturday was a continuation of that footage, or why it was released.

The footage also appeared the same day previously released video was posted again, showing the man purported to be the new leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq execute a Turkish hostage.

If described accurately, the images would be the first of Abu Ayyub al-Masri to be released since the group announced he had succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by a U.S. air strike in Iraq on June 7.

Both videos appeared just as Sunni Muslims in Iraq began Ramadan, the Islamic holy month. U.S. officials have warned attacks could intensify during Ramadan.