Islamist Website Shows Pictures Of Beheaded Hostage
18 June 2004 -- The kidnappers of an American aeronautics engineer in Saudi Arabia said today they had killed him.
An Islamist website carried three pictures of what appeared to be the body and the severed head of Paul Johnson and a statement announcing his execution.
The statement was signed by a group calling itself "the Al-Qaeda organization in the Arabian peninsula."
Johnson was kidnapped in Riyadh on 12 June. In a video message released on 15 June, Johnson's kidnappers said they would kill him in three days unless the Saudi government frees all the Islamic militants it is keeping in jail.
Saudi authorities have said they will not negotiate with "terrorists."
(Agencies)