KATHMANDU, Aug 31 (AFP) - Nepal said it could not immediately confirm an Islamic militant group`s claim to have beheaded 12 workers from the Himalayan kingdom kidnapped in Iraq.
"We have not yet received any information on this," foreign ministry spokesman Nabin Bahadur Shrestha told AFP.
A statement posted on an Islamist website by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna was accompanied by pictures of what was claimed to be the bodies of the hostages, one of whom was apparently beheaded while the rest had their throats cut.
The 12 were last shown in a videotape on Saturday reading a statement saying they had been misled into working in Iraq by "American lies".
Nepal`s ambassadors to Pakistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, speaking to media in the kingdom, had expressed hope in recent days that the hostages would be freed after the kingdom stressed it was not part of the US-led coalition in Iraq.
Nepal declined US requests to contribute troops, saying its army was busy fighting a bloody Maoist insurgency.