DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group posted a video on the Internet on Monday showing the killings of 12 Nepalese men who it said worked for a Nepalese company with a U.S. contract.
In the video, posted by an Islamist group called the Armyof Ansar al-Sunna, a militant beheaded one of the men with aknife. The rest were shot in the back lying face down in asandy lot.
There was no information as to when the killings tookplace. The footage was similar to a video and pictures postedin 2004, when an Iraqi militant group killed 12 Nepali hostageswho had gone to Iraq to work as cooks and cleaners for aJordanian firm.
Those images also showed a militant beheading one man andthe others being shot in the back by an automatic weapon.
"After investigating their identities and theirdestinations, we have, with grace from God the Almighty,implemented God's ruling against them," the militant group saidin an on-screen message in the posting on Monday.
At the time of the 2004 killings, an estimated 200,000Nepalis worked as labourers, drivers, guards, cleaners andcooks in Iraq, even though poor Nepal did not allow itsnationals to travel or work in there because of securityconcerns.
The killing of foreign contractors by militants in Iraq hasdeclined, matching overall falls in violence.
(Reporting by Inal Ersan; Editing by Michael Winfrey)