Two Algerian diplomats in Iraq have been killed by their kidnappers, the Algerian president's office has confirmed, hours after an Internet statement by a group purportedly linked to Al Qaeda claimed it had slain the envoys.
Algerian state radio interrupted its programming to broadcast an announcement from the office of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which said that Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi had been killed. The statement did not provide the source of the information.
It was the second reported slayings of Arab envoys in Iraq this month.
Belaroussi, 62, and Belkadi, 47, were kidnapped at gunpoint July 21 in Baghdad's upscale Mansour area. They appeared in a video made public Tuesday blindfolded and in captivity.
"The head of the Algerian mission Ali Belaroussi and the diplomat Azzedine Belkadi, whose government is ruling in violation of God's will, were killed," said the Internet statement.
Today's statement, which appeared on an Islamic Web site, said the envoys had been killed because of the Algerian government's repression of Muslims in their north African country.
The pair appeared in a video made public yesterday blindfolded and in captivity, giving their names and home addresses.