Hostage Shown on Chechen Tape Claims to be Spy
GROZNY, Russia — The Chechen government showed a videotape Thursday of a kidnapped foreigner claiming to be a British spy before he and three other victims were beheaded.
Chechen officials refused to say how the video was obtained, and the victims’ families and employer dismissed the “confession” as forced.
On the tape, the hostage, identified as Peter Kennedy, said in Russian that he and his colleagues had been sent to Chechnya by the British secret service to monitor telephone conversations.
Their mission was to gather information to stop the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the region, he said.
All four hostages were visible in the tape, looking haggard and wearing heavy beards.
The heads of the four hostages were found Tuesday after a government rescue attempt apparently went wrong. Chechen security forces were still searching Thursday for the men’s bodies.
The victims--Kennedy, Darren Hickey and Rudolf Petschi of Britain and New Zealand’s Stanley Shaw--had been abducted by gunmen Oct. 3 in Grozny. Their killers remain at large.
They were employees of Granger Telecom, which had a contract to set up a mobile phone service.
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