Al-Qaida says it killed U.S. Embassy employee

updated 11:56 a.m. ET Aug. 30, 2007

BAGHDAD - An al-Qaida front group said Thursday on an Islamic Web site known to be used by extremists that it had killed an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, but the embassy cast doubt on the claim.

On the site, the Islamic State of Iraq claimed the killing of an embassy “official” it identified as Zaher Abdel Mohsin Abdel-Saheb took place Saturday as revenge for “the Muslim women who are still captives in the prisons of Shiites and crusaders.”

The Arabic-language statement was signed by the Ministry of Information of the Islamic State of Iraq.

The U.S. Embassy told The Associated Press in an e-mail statement that it was still checking its records, “however, at this time it appears there is no record for a person by the name of Zaher Abdel Mohsin Abdel-Saheb who worked — or ever has worked — at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.”

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