DUBAI: A Sunni militant group allied to Al-Qaeda on Thursday posted an Internet video of what it said was the execution of nine Iraqi soldiers and policemen.
Hooded gunmen shot each of the men with a bullet in the back of the neck, in the video posted on an Islamist website. The authenticity of the video could not immediately be determined.
The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, an alliance led by Al-Qaeda, had demanded the release of all Sunni women detainees in Iraqi prisons in return for the release of the nine security officers.
The group has said the men were seized in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, and included high-ranking officers, but the Iraqi interior ministry had previously denied that any of its men were reported missing.
Similar demands were made after previous kidnappings, although the interior ministry has suggested that in one case captured civilians were dressed up as police officers before their murder.
On April 19, the Islamic State in Iraq aired a videotape of the purported execution of 20 officers after the government failed to meet their demands, including the handover of officers accused of raping a Sunni woman in Baghdad.
The alleged rape of the woman, who has appeared in footage broadcast on Arab networks saying she had been violated by interior ministry officers, triggered a bitter row at the highest levels in Iraq.
Some Sunni leaders backed her claims, but the Shiite prime minister dismissed them, alleging that the rape had been fabricated by Sunni politicians to tarnish the police at the February launch of a Baghdad security crackdown.
