Free Republic

CAIRO, Egypt - The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq killed two U.S. soldiers whom the group abducted last week, an insurgent umbrella group said in a Web statement posted Tuesday. The statement, which could not be authenticated, said the two soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting they had been beheaded by Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings. The claim of responsibility was posted on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post...

Updated: 14:59, Monday June 12, 2006 Al Qaeda has named a successor to Iraqi terror leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who was killed in an American air strike last week.A militant called Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajer has been named on a website used by the Islamist terrorists.More follows...

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web statement posted Monday that a militant named Abu Hamza al-Muhajer was the group's new leader. Al-Muhajer succeeds Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed Wednesday by a U.S. airstrike on his hideout northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The successor's name — a pseudonym, as most militants are known by — was not immediately known and did not appear to be on any U.S. lists of terrorists with rewards on their heads. The name al-Muhajer, Arabic for "immigrant," suggested he was not Iraqi. Al-Muhajer is a common alias among Islamic militants, referring to...