Video Appears to Show Beheading of American Civilian

An American civilian who had gone to Iraq to look for work was captured last month by Islamic militants and beheaded, his family and American officials said, in an execution that was videotaped and briefly posted on a Web site today.

In the tape, which is of poor quality, masked men who claim to have ties to Al Qaeda say the execution is vengeance for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

"The dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls," one of the masked men said in a statement he read before the killing. "You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins ... slaughtered the same way."

American officials and the slain man's family, in West Chester, Pa., identified the victim as Nicholas Berg, 26, who had gone to Iraq on his own looking for contracting work. Officials said his body was found on Saturday in Baghdad.

An intelligence official said the Central Intelligence Agency was reviewing the videotape to see if it provided clues as to who might carry have carried it out.

The official also took note of Mr. Berg's decision to go to Iraq without an employer. "It was the wrong place for someone without a support structure to be," the intelligence official said.

In the videotape, parts of which were shown on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, the man is shown sitting on a floor with five masked men behind him, and one of the masked men reads a statement.

In the portion of the tape that follows, which has not been broadcast in the United States, the masked men push the seated man to the floor, saw off his head as he screams and then hold it aloft, according to Reuters. The tape was briefly made public on a Web site linked to Islamic militants, Reuters and other news organizations said, but it quickly became inaccessible.

The video is titled "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American." It was unclear whether Mr. Zarqawi — a Jordanian militant with ties to Al Qaeda — was personally in the video or was taking responsibility for ordering the execution. American military officials have said they believe Mr. Zarqawi is behind many of the attacks in Iraq against coalition forces and Iraqi civilians.

The victim himself speaks on the videotape shortly before he is killed.

"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael . . . I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah," says the man, who was shown bound wearing an orange jump suit similar to a prisoner's uniform.

Mr. Berg's parents, Suzanne and Michael Berg, told The Associated Press that State Department officials had called them on Monday to tell them that Mr. Berg's decapitated body had been found on Saturday on a Baghdad highway overpass.

Today, a friend of the Berg family stood outside the family's home and read a statement to journalists who had gathered outside, The A.P. said.

"The Berg family is devastated by this loss," said the family friend, John Hauser. "They want to extend their sympathy to other families who have also suffered. They are asking the Army to expedite the release of Nick's body so they can make arrangements and put this behind them."

Mr. Berg's family had told several news agencies that he had been missing since April 9, the same day that seven American contractors working for a subsidiary of Halliburton and two military men disappeared after their supply convoy was attacked on the outskirts of Baghdad.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family," said the chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, who was with President Bush in Arkansas. "It shows the true nature of the enemies of freedom. They have no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children. We will pursue those who are responsible and bring them to justice."

Four of the Halliburton workers and one of the military men have since been confirmed dead. One Halliburton worker, Thomas Hamill, escaped from his captors last week and has since returned to his home in Mississippi.

Mr. Berg's mother told The A.P. that her son had been in Iraq from December to February seeking work rebuilding the country's infrastructure. After a short stay back home, she said, he returned to Iraq in March. He later told them that he had been jailed by Iraqi officials after being stopped at a checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul before he could return home, as planned, on March 30.

"He was arrested and held without due process," his father, Michael, told The Daily Local News of West Chester. "By the time he got out the whole area was inflamed with violence."

The couple told The A.P. that the last communication they had from their son was on April 9, when he said he would come home by way of Jordan, Turkey or Kuwait.

The Web site on which the video was posted, Muntada al-Ansar Islamist, is known as a clearinghouse for statements and tapes by Al Qaeda and Islamic extremist groups.

In a statement read before the beheading, the captors said the civilian's death would be revenge for the reported abuses suffered by Iraqi captives at the hands of American soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange this hostage with some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib and they refused," one of the men read from a statement.

After the statement, the men pull the man to his side and put a large knife to his neck, according to journalists who watched the complete tape. A scream can be heard as the men sever his head, shouting, "Allahu Akbar!" — God is great.

Then they hold them man's head in front of the camera.

Douglas Jehl contributed reporting from Washington for this article.