Marine Thought Beheaded in Iraq Arrives in Beirut

A Lebanese-born US marine who disappeared in Iraq and was thought to have been beheaded by kidnappers has arrived safely at the American embassy in Beirut, a Pentagon official said last night. "He is safe, he appears to be healthy," the official told Reuters.

Since Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, a Muslim, aged 24, went absent from his unit on June 21 there had been contradictory reports of his fate.

On Saturday, a statement on an Islamist website said he had been beheaded, but on Monday an Iraqi militant group said it had spared him in return for his promise not to return to the US military.

The US military initially said that he was on "unauthorised leave," but claimed him "captured" after he appeared on television blindfolded with a sword hanging over his head.

On Tuesday, Sami Hassoun, the corporal's elder brother, had news that the marine was free. Some reports said that Cpl Hassoun, who was edu cated at American schools in Lebanon, had fled his military camp near Falluja after seeing a colleague killed by a mortar shell; others said he had been lured out and captured.

Last night it was still unclear how Cpl Hassoun had managed to get to Lebanon.

Confirmation that he was at the Beirut embassy followed statements by Lebanese officials and his relatives that he had been reunited with his family. Members of his family later exchanged gunfire with another family who had referred to them as US agents, witnesses said. Reportedly, at least one person was killed and several others wounded.