KATHMANDU, Aug 31 (AFP) - The brother of one of 12 Nepalese kidnapped in Iraq voiced shock and helplessness Tuesday after Islamic militants claimed to have killed the labourers from the cash-strapped Himalayan kingdom.
"We were expecting their safe return. This is very shocking. This is completely unexpected," said Sudarshan Khadka, the brother of Ramesh Khadka, 19, who was among those allegedly murdered.
"My brother went there just to earn a living. He had nothing to do with the Americans. We are helpless against fanatics," the 23-year-old told AFP from his home in Lele, a village 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Kathmandu.
Nepal said it could not immediately confirm the militants' claim to have beheaded the hostages.
"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 were shot.
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 country 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.
Ramesh Khadka's father, Jit Bahadur Khadka, earlier said the family had taken a loan of more than 2,000 dollars for his son's trip in the belief he would be a cook in Jordan.
The sum is a fortune in Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries.
The Jordanian employment agency Morning Star has said that the Nepalese headed to Iraq for work hoping to earn more money.