Video Shows Insurgents Shooting Survivor of Helicopter Crash in Iraq

A video purportedly showing the killing by insurgents of the only survivor of a helicopter crash north of Baghdad appeared on the internet yesterday.

It shows a gunman ordering his colleagues to "carry out God's verdict", followed by them firing shots into the man while shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

The video was posted with a written statement from a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.

The statement claimed responsibility for the shooting down of the civilian helicopter carrying security contractors in which 11 people were killed. They were three Bulgarian crew, six Americans employed by Blackwater Security Consulting, and two Fijian guards recruited by a British-based company, Global Risk.

The Islamic Army in Iraq said it killed the surviving Bulgarian crewman "in revenge for the Muslims killed in the mosques of Falluja".

The video shows two bodies, one of them severely charred. "Look at that filth," someone says in Arabic. "Stand up! Stand up!" the cameraman shouts to the man in English. "I can't, it's broken. Give me a hand," the survivor says in accented English, raising his hands for help.

It appears the militants help pull him to his feet. The cameraman tells the crewman to step back. "Go! Go!" he shouts.

The survivor then tries to walk, limping with his back to the insurgents. He then turns round, raising his hands as if gesturing to people to stop what they are about to do.

The militants then open fire at point-blank range, continuing to shoot after the man falls to the ground.