Rome, 28 Dec. (AKI) - A video of the decapitation of an Afghan hostage, posted to al-Qaeda-linked websites on Wednesday, bears the stamp of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It's the first published video showing the beheading of a hostage in the hands of an Afghan terrorist cell. Five minutes long, it shows many of the trade marks of videos published by al-Zarqawi's Organisation of al-Qaeda in Iraq from the ritual forced confession to the beheading and a gruesome finale.Entitled "Death Sentence" the new video echoes the production techniques used in the films of al-Qaeda in Iraq, with the victim appearing before the camera for a forced confession. "My name is Sayd Allah Khan and I am from the Khost province" the man says, speaking in Pashtu. "I work as a spy for the Americans along with four other people. My job is to blow up Islamic schools in Waziristan -[a tribal area on the Afghan-Pakistan border] The group receives 45,000 dollars and my share is 7,000 dollars," he says.
The first part of the film ends with an appeal from the victim to others not to collaborate with the Americans "so as not to end up like me". After the forced confession, the second gruesome segment shows the decapitation. Before showing the man having his thoat slit, there are several seconds of images of President George W. Bush and American troops, just time for the narrator to pronounce the name "al-Zarqawi". Then seven hooded men are shown holding the victrim to the ground, one is tasked with the decapitation while the others yell "Allah is great" and, speaking in Pashtu, urge people to jihad (Holy War). The film concludes with an image of Sayd Allah Khan's head placed on top of his body, the same finale that was used in the early videos of jihadi groups.
The video was shot on 12 September though only recently posted on the Internet. It is not possible to ascertain whether the execution was carried out by Taliban or by al-Qaeda militants. There have recently been reports of joint operations in southern Afghanistan. The video bears the symbol "Labbaik" of the video production company used by jihadi groups in Afghanistan and that several weeks ago posted a brief film of the four suspected terrorists who had escaped from the Afghan base of Bagram. This latest video reveals how the practice of decapitation initiated by al-Zarqawi and, in the early days, resisted by the leadership of al-Qaeda, has reached Afghanistan.
Furthermore the frames in which Bush appears and the name of al-Zarqawi being pronounced, could have been specially inserted to celebrate the Jordanian-born terrorist who is now believed to be a key member of the leadership of the al-Qaeda network.