Iraqi militants deny beheading Marine
By: Hussein Dakroub - The associated press
Issue date: 7/5/04 Section: News
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A militant group denied on Sunday that it killed U.S. Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, injecting hope into his family's tense wait for news. The fate of the Lebanese-born Marine remains unknown, though Lebanon's Foreign Ministry says he is believed dead.
The denial from the Ansar al-Sunna Army came a day after a statement in the group's name announced that Hassoun had been beheaded. The Ansar al-Sunna said Sunday they didn't issue the statement, leaving it unclear if the 24-year-old was killed by another group or was still alive.
''The denial gave us a big relief,'' Hassoun's brother, Sami, told The Associated Press by telephone from the northern city of Tripoli, where some of Hassoun's relatives live.
But with conflicting reports and no hard evidence, the family remained afraid for Wassef's life and was still reeling from the possibility he had been beheaded.
''We are hoping that good news will come later tonight that Wassef is alive, God willing,'' Sami Hassoun said. He renewed his appeal to the kidnappers to release his brother.
The report that Wassef Hassoun had been killed came Saturday in a message posted on Islamic radical Web sites, signed by the Ansar al-Sunna Army in Qaim, a hotbed of guerrilla activity on Iraq's border with Syria. That name was different from the one given in the statement that originally announced Hassoun's abduction a week ago.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that it had independent information from Baghdad that he had been killed.
But after strongly condemning the death Sunday, Foreign Minister Jean Obeid later said news of the death ''was not official.''
Obeid said the Lebanese charge d'affaires in Baghdad was ''in contact with some forces that have indirect links to the (kidnappers), and these forces say they lost hope in all attempts (to win his release) and by last night the group was about to behead him or had already beheaded him.''
The U.S. military in Baghdad said it was checking into the claim of Hassoun's death but had no confirmation.
The denial from the Ansar al-Sunna Army came a day after a statement in the group's name announced that Hassoun had been beheaded. The Ansar al-Sunna said Sunday they didn't issue the statement, leaving it unclear if the 24-year-old was killed by another group or was still alive.
''The denial gave us a big relief,'' Hassoun's brother, Sami, told The Associated Press by telephone from the northern city of Tripoli, where some of Hassoun's relatives live.
But with conflicting reports and no hard evidence, the family remained afraid for Wassef's life and was still reeling from the possibility he had been beheaded.
''We are hoping that good news will come later tonight that Wassef is alive, God willing,'' Sami Hassoun said. He renewed his appeal to the kidnappers to release his brother.
The report that Wassef Hassoun had been killed came Saturday in a message posted on Islamic radical Web sites, signed by the Ansar al-Sunna Army in Qaim, a hotbed of guerrilla activity on Iraq's border with Syria. That name was different from the one given in the statement that originally announced Hassoun's abduction a week ago.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that it had independent information from Baghdad that he had been killed.
But after strongly condemning the death Sunday, Foreign Minister Jean Obeid later said news of the death ''was not official.''
Obeid said the Lebanese charge d'affaires in Baghdad was ''in contact with some forces that have indirect links to the (kidnappers), and these forces say they lost hope in all attempts (to win his release) and by last night the group was about to behead him or had already beheaded him.''
The U.S. military in Baghdad said it was checking into the claim of Hassoun's death but had no confirmation.
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