South Korean is Latest Hostage to Be Beheaded in Iraq

A South Korean hostage became the latest victim to be beheaded by militant Islamic captors in Iraq yesterday, after Seoul refused to accede to demands for a withdrawal from the US-led coalition.

American forces found the body of Kim Sun-il west of Baghdad yesterday afternoon, prompting outrage from South Korean leaders, who called the murder an "inhumane act of terror".

In a videotape broadcast on the al-Jazeera network, Mr Kim was shown kneeling on the ground in front of three masked militants. His shoulders were heaving, his mouth open as if he were gulping air and he was sobbing. He wore a bright orange jumpsuit and was blindfold.

One of the kidnappers read a statement addressed to the Korean people, saying: "We warned you and you ignored [the warning] ... Enough lies. Your army is not here for the sake of Iraqis, but for the sake of cursed America."

The broadcast did not show Mr Kim dead, but the al-Jazeera presenter said he had been beheaded.

President George Bush denounced the execution and said that America would not be cowed by its adversaries in Iraq. South Korea responded to the development by promising to stick to its commitment to augment its 600-strong unit of engineers in Iraq with 3,000 more troops from August.

Al-Jazeera said the execution was carried out by the al-Qaida-linked group, Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad (Monotheism and Holy War), a group led by a Palestinian-Jordanian, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has been accused by Washington of links to al-Qaida.

US military officials said an air strike launched late last night on the restive town of Falluja was aimed at a safehouse used by followers of Mr Zarqawi. Early reports suggested that three people were killed. At least 22 were killed in the town in air strikes at the weekend.

In other violence yesterday, a car bomb exploded in Baghdad during the afternoon rush hour, killing three people, including a three-year-old girl, and injuring six other Iraqis, a US military spokesman said.

A roadside bomb exploded in the town of Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, killing one Iraqi security officer. In a separate incident, a university professor and her husband were killed in the northern city of Mosul.

Mr Kim, 33, who worked for a South Korean company, Gana General Trading, which supplies the US military in Iraq, was abducted last week in Falluja. He becomes the third hostage held in Iraq to be killed in videotaped executions in recent weeks.

An Italian hostage, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, was shot in the head in April and an American, Nick Berg, was beheaded last month.

Another American, Paul Johnson, was beheaded by Islamic captors in Saudi Arabia at the weekend.

Dozens of foreigners have been seized in Iraq since the recent upsurge in violence, though most of them have been released unharmed.

Mr Kim's kidnappers initially set a deadline of Monday night in a videotape which showed the Korean hostage pleading for his life.

The US plans to turn over legal, but not physical, custody of Saddam Hussein and some other Iraqi prisoners to the interim government soon after sovereignty is handed over on June 30, a senior official said yesterday.