Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

In this undated image made from video, released by the Islamic State of Iraq's (ISI) al-Furqan Media and distributed Saturday, March 3, 2007 by IntelCenter, 18 blindfolded members of the Iraqi Security Forces are shot from behind by an unidentified gunman at an undisclosed location. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    CAIRO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- An al-Qaida-linked militant group on Saturday posted a three-minute video of the execution of 18 kidnapped Iraqi security troops on the Internet.

    The video, whose authenticity could not be immediately verified, claimed that the 18 men were slain in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police.

    It first depicts the captives, some in Iraqi military uniforms, blind folded, hands tied behind their backs and lined up in three rows before a screen.

    Two masked militants, with checkered scarves on their heads, then fire from handguns at close range into the backs of the men's heads, while a third militant carries a black banner ahead of them.

    During the video, a male voice is heard reading from a statement posted on the Internet on Friday, saying the group's court had ordered the 18 security troops' execution as the Iraqi government failed to meet their demands for the handover of police officers who allegedly assaulted the woman, and for the release of all Sunni women detainees from prisons.

    Earlier, the al-Qaida group said in another Internet statement that it had killed 14 policemen, whose bodies were found on Friday in the northeast province of Diyala, in retaliation for the alleged rape.

    Last month, a 20-year-old woman from western Baghdad accused three Iraqi policemen of sexually assaulting her, but the Iraqi government denied the accusation.

    Rape victims in the conservative Iraqi society rarely go to publicity because they fear public scorn and humiliation.