Rebels Confess to Beheadings on Iraqi Tv

Captured Iraqi insurgents who claim to have beheaded dozens of hostages were shown on television yesterday saying that they practised on chickens and sheep before moving on to people.

The state-run Iraqiya television station aired lengthy interviews with at least six men who said they were involved in gangs which kidnapped and killed dozens of people in the northern city of Mosul.

Speaking with little sign of remorse, the men said they were told they would be made princes after 10 beheadings.

The broadcasts, which began earlier this week, appeared to be a government-backed initiative to cast the insurgents in the worst possible light and to accuse Syria, which the men claimed had trained and paid them, of masterminding the atrocities.

There was no way to verify the confessions or the identities of the men who were described as captured insurgents, in which case they were probably being held by the interior ministry. It was not clear whether they had been charged with any offence.

Yesterday's 80-minute programme was punctuated by images of Ken Bigley, the British hostage murdered in October. But the interviewees did not mention Mr Bigley and said their victims were Iraqis deemed to have collaborated with the occupation.

One man explained that they practised their technique on chickens and sheep so as to appear professional in executions that were videotaped and put on the internet.

Each man spoke in turn to an unseen interviewer, who was addressed as master, while the others were silent and seated in the background, the only adornment an Iraqi flag.

They showed little emotion but tended to avoid eye contact and stare at their hands or the floor when detailing the beheadings.

The questioner was often aggressive, challenging the men as to why they did not feel compassion for their victims or their relatives.

One man, who said he was merely a driver for a kidnap gang and had not killed any one, was ridiculed when the others said he had shot dead up to 15 people. What he meant was that he had not beheaded anyone. "So if I shoot you now you are not dead?" asked the interviewer.

The broadcast echoed the televised confessions and humiliations of Saddam Hussein's opponents before his regime was toppled .

Iraqiya TV went on air in 2003 with funding from the Pentagon.

Viewers have responded with a mix of horror at the grisly details, fascination that the men look so normal, and suspicion that the public is being manipulated with broadcasts that air at least twice a day.

The main target of the propaganda was Syria, which Baghdad has repeatedly accused of sponsoring insurgents. Damascus denies the allegations.

One of the men in yesterday's broadcast was named as Lieutenant Anas Ahmed al-Essa of the Syrian intelligence service. His group was recruited to cause chaos and stop the US attacking Syria, he said.

The interviewees said they were taken to Latakia in Syria in 2001 in anticipation of an American invasion of Iraq and trained by a Syrian officer named Anis in beheadings, bombings, shootings and film-making. Asked why they used knives rather than guns to execute, one man replied: "The Syrians told us to do it."