BAGHDAD, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida has vowed to kill a Moroccan diplomat and his chauffeur in Iraq who were kidnapped last month.
The Islamic militant group issued its decision in an Internet posting, The New York Times reported Friday.
The group identified the captives as driver Abderrahim Boualem and diplomat Abdelkrim El Mohsfidi, who were kidnapped Oct. 20. The incident is part of campaign by al-Qaida to drive Muslim diplomats from Iraq, the report said.
The announcement said al-Qaida's Islamic court had sentenced the two to death, "to be an example for others who are still thinking to challenge the Mujahedin and dare to come to the land of the two rivers."
The Moroccan government Thursday condemned the death sentences as "extreme barbarity," the Times reported.
Separately, Iraqi authorities Thursday found 11 bodies in the town of Rustamiya south of Baghdad. Six of them had no heads while the others bore torture marks.
