An al-Qaida-linked group in Iraq says it has killed 14 Iraqi soldiers and police after a deadline expired.
The group posted a video on the Internet Thursday showing a masked insurgent shooting the Iraqis in the head.
It said Monday it was holding the 14 Iraqis, and it threatened to kill them within 72 hours unless the government released Sunni Muslim prisoners.
Meanwhile, authorities say a Sunni mosque near the southern city of Basra was bombed and destroyed Friday. At least six other Sunni mosques have been attacked since suspected al-Qaida militants bombed the revered Shi'ite Askariya Shrine in Samarra on Wednesday.
In other developments, the U.S. military says a U.S. soldier was killed in Diyala Province. A bomb blast killed three other U.S. soldiers in Kirkuk Thursday.
Meanwhile, Brazil's Foreign Ministry says the remains of a Brazilian engineer kidnapped in Iraq in 2005 have been found and positively identified.
Early reports had said an al-Qaida-linked group called the Mujaheddin Squadrons was responsible for the kidnapping of the engineer.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
