DUBAI - The group of Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said Thursday in a website statement it had executed Egypt's top envoy to Baghdad who had been abducted in the capital at the weekend.
"We announce that the judgement of God Almighty has been executed on the ambassador of the infidels, the ambassador of Egypt," it said in a statement which could not be authenticated.
"The ambassador of the infidels has confessed information that showed that his regime is an infidel and which proved his affiliation to the Jews and the Crusaders," it said.
"His confessions have been recorded," added the site.
Ambassador-designate Ihab al-Sharif, 51, was kidnapped late Saturday while walking alone on a Baghdad street, in the first abduction of a head of mission since the spate of foreign hostage-takings in Iraq.
A short video on the website showed a blindfolded Sharif wearing a white T-shirt and identifying himself as he recalled his career at the foreign ministry, which included a stint at the Egyptian embassy in Israel.
Zarqawi's group had claimed his abduction in a statement also posted on an Islamist website on Tuesday, but which carried no demands.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who has a 25-million-dollar US price on his head, has claimed responsibility for a large number of the attacks, kidnappings and murders in Iraq since the US-led invasion overthrew Saddam Hussein two years ago.
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