Militants say they executed US soldier in Iraq

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28192630.htm

CAIRO, June 28 (Reuters) - Al Jazeera television broadcast a video tape on Monday showing what militants said was the execution of a U.S. soldier captured in Iraq in April.

A gunman could be seen firing one shot at the soldier, wearing greenish overalls and seen only from the back, in a dark setting. The body fell into a hole.

U.S. defense officials said the family of Private Keith Matthew Maupin, 20, seized by militants in April, had been told about the existence of the video, but that there was no confirmation he had been killed.

The video was aired hours after the United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a secretive ceremony formally ending 14 months of occupation.

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