WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (AFP) - The United States on Monday condemned as "a heinous and barbarous act" the execution of a Turkish hostage held in Iraq and vowed to defeat the cause of the man`s captors.
"This is a heinous and barbarous act," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. "It is one that we resolutely and unequivocally condemn.
"It shows the true nature of the terrorists holding this hostage and it shows what they`re about: they`re not about progress, they`re not about working for the Iraqi people," he told reporters.
"They`re about killing innocents and trying to impede progress towards stability, reconstruction and democracy in Iraq," Ereli said. "We, for our part, will not let them succeed. We are resolute in standing firm in the face of their terrorist threats."
Earlier Monday, a video was posted to Islamic websites showing the Turkish national being blindfolded and shot three times in the head by his hooded kidnappers.
News of the execution by a group linked to suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi prompted a major Turkish truckers` organization to announce it would stop ferrying goods to US forces in Iraq.
A Turkish foreign ministry official identified the victim as Murat Yuce and said he had been kidnapped by the Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Unification and Holy War) group affiliated to the Jordanian-born Zarqawi.
She said Yuce was a cleaner working for the Bilintur catering company which subcontracted for a major holding company known as Tepe transporting goods to US soldiers in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Zarqawi, who has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head, has been accused by Washington of masterminding some of the deadliest bombings in Iraq. His group has also claimed to have kidnapped and killed other foreign hostages.
In the video posted on Islamic websites a hostage who identifies himself as Yuce is seen blindfolded and being shot in the head by one of three hooded gunmen as they shout "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest).
The masked man fired two more bullets into the victim`s head after he fell to the ground, his face down in a pool of blood.
The video earlier showed Yuce reading a statement in Turkish urging Turkish firms to pull out of Iraq.