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Man Who Beheaded U.S. Citizen 'Probably' Al-Zarqawi


13 May 2004 -- A U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official said today Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi was probably the person shown in a video beheading a U.S. citizen in Iraq.

The CIA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said an analysis of the tape where U.S. citizen Nicholas Berg is beheaded determined there was a high probability that the speaker and executioner in the tape was al-Zarqawi.

The speaker in the video claimed Berg's execution was retaliation for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghurayb prison.

The tape was titled "Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi Slaughtering an American" and was posted earlier this week on a website affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

(Reuters/AP/AFP)

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