SKOPJE, Oct 22 (AFP) - A Macedonian investigative team has confirmed that two Macedonians have been executed by Islamic extremists in Iraq, but the body of a third victim is yet to be identified, officials said Friday.
Foreign ministry spokesman Dusko Uzunovski said the dead men had been identified from television footage as Zoran Nasovski and Dalibor Lazarevski, two of three Macedonian civilians missing in Iraq since August.
"There is enough evidence to show that there are three dead bodies on that tape and two of them are Zoran Nasovski and Dalibor Lazarevski," he told a press conference.
The fate of the third missing Macedonian, identified as Dragan Markovic, is unknown but another investigative team will soon travel to Baghdad to make further inquiries, Uzunovski said.
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television reported Monday that an armed group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq had executed two unnamed Macedonians for allegedly spying on behalf of the United States.
It aired footage it said came from the Islamic Army, showing two men and their identity cards with the group's banner in the background.
The families of the dead men said they had gone to Iraq to work for a US construction company.
Another 19 Macedonians employed with the company have since begun to leave Iraq.
Macedonia has been supporter of the US-led war in Iraq and has about 30 soldiers stationed there with American troops.
The defence ministry in Skopje has said all the former Yugoslav republic's troops are accounted for and "in regular condition".
Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva said Wednesday the executions would not alter Macedonia's commitment to the US-led coalition in Iraq.
"The latest tragic event does not put under question the further presence of our soldiers in Iraq or our participation in the international coalition," she said.
The government deflected media criticism Friday that it had failed to do anything to find the three missing construction workers after they disappeared in August.
Uzunovski said the group which executed the kidnappers had made no ransom demands for their release.
10/22/2004 16:00 GMT - AFP