Internet video shows militant beheading Iraqi
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-02 22:45

An Islamist terror group posted a video on its Web site Saturday that it claims shows the beheading of a Baghdad contractor.

Smoke rises after an explosion in Samarra on Saturday.

In a statement, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna said it captured Bari'e Dawood Ibrahim -- whom it described as a "traitor."

The group's claims cannot be verified by CNN.

The video showed the man holding his identification card and stating his name. He also said he worked on water, air-conditioning and telecommunications projects for the U.S. and Iraqi forces over the last few months.

The group said Ibrahim faced "God's judgment" and then apparently decapitated him.

Curfew in Samarra

In Samarra, U.S. and Iraqi forces imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew following a major offensive that Pentagon sources called the opening salvo in a campaign to drive insurgents out of more than a dozen cities.

Military officials said fighting in the Sunni Triangle city killed at least 109 insurgents and one American soldier.

About 2,000 Iraqi forces and 3,000 U.S. troops moved into the city Thursday in response to what U.S. officials called "repeated and unprovoked attacks by anti-Iraqi forces." It was the largest operation in the Sunni Triangle city in months.

Dr. Khalid Ahmed said at least 80 bodies and more than 100 wounded were brought to Samarra General Hospital, but it was not immediately clear how many were insurgents. The hospital was running out of supplies, Ahmed said.

CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports that Pentagon officials believed there was strong local support for kicking out the militants, who were seen by many Samarra residents as holding the city hostage.

U.S. officials hope to drive insurgents out of their pockets of influence ahead of January's scheduled elections.

The Samarra offensive is centered on the al-Askari mosque, a Shiite mosque in a largely Sunni town. Also known as the Golden Mosque, it's very important to Shiites across the globe and it is regularly visited by pilgrims.

Iraqi forces found weapons inside the mosque and on the rooftop.

After the transfer to Iraq sovereignty in June, the U.S. military agreed to stop patrolling Samarra.

But as insurgent attacks continued, U.S. forces returned to patrols three weeks ago, after Iraqi and coalition forces restored Samarra's City Council to power.

Falluja airstrikes kill nine

U.S. airstrikes in Falluja overnight killed nine Iraqis and wounded 12 others -- including several children -- according to hospital officials.

The U.S. military described one of the airstrikes in the eastern part of the city as "a precision strike on yet another confirmed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist site" and insisted only terrorists, not civilians, would have been killed.

However, video and still photos of the scene -- shot by Reuters and Associated Press photographers -- showed two young children's lifeless bodies being pulled from the rubble.

In recent weeks, U.S. warplanes have hammered targets almost daily in Falluja, where the terror network of al-Zarqawi is said to be based, and the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a stronghold of support for Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

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