An al-Qaeda-linked group has claimed to have killed four Russian embassy workers who were abducted earlier this month in Iraq.
A video posted on the Internet last night with an accompanying statement by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organisation linking seven insurgent groups including al-Qaeda in Iraq, claimed all four Russians had been killed.
Russia's foreign ministry said it had not yet confirmed the hostages' deaths.
The 90-second video, posted on an Islamic website that often airs militant messages, showed the beheading of two blindfolded men and the shooting of a third.
In the footage, two men clad in black and wearing black ski masks shout "God is great!" before beheading the first man. Then one militant appears standing over the decapitated body of a second victim lying in a pool of blood, with the head placed on top of the body.
The footage was stamped with the logo of al-Qaeda.
"God's verdict has been carried out on the Russian diplomats . . . in revenge for the torture, killing and expulsion of our brothers and sisters by the infidel Russian government," the statement said.
Footage of the men speaking into the camera is dated June 13th, but the footage of the killings is undated.
The Russian embassy workers were abducted June 3rd after an attack on their car in Baghdad's Mansour neighbourhood. A fifth Russian was killed in the incident.
Moscow strongly opposed the US-led military campaign and has continued to keep its distance from Washington on the issue of Iraq. Four Russian workers were killed in ambushes in Iraq in 2004.