Beheading suspects 'led by Saddam's nephew' Luke Harding in Baghdad Saturday May 22, 2004 The Guardian
The mystery of who killed Nick Berg, the freelance contractor beheaded on video, took a new twist last night when Iraqi police claimed they had arrested four suspects with links to Saddam Hussein's family. Iraqi security officials said Berg's alleged killers were part of a group led by a close relative of Saddam - his nephew Yasser al-Sabawi. The men were seized a week ago after a tip-off, they said. All were former members of the Fedayeen Saddam, the para military group notorious for its loyalty to Iraq's ex-president. But last night the US military spokesman, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, said American forces had arrested four men linked to the Berg case after a raid in Baghdad. Two had been released and two were still being questioned. He said: '"I don't know their prior affiliations or prior organisations. We have some intelligence that would suggest they have knowledge, perhaps some culpability." It was not clear whether the two raids were related. The contradictory revelations add to the confusion in the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping and execution of Berg, who disappeared after checking out of his Baghdad hotel on April 10. In a video released last week Berg is shown sitting in an orange jumpsuit in front of five masked and armed men. One of them declares that his killing is in revenge for the abuse of prisoners by US guards at Abu Ghraib. The same man then draws a long knife and cuts off Berg's head. The CIA claimed there was a "high probability" that Abu Musab al-Zaqawi, a Jordanian extremist with links to al-Qaida, was the masked man who beheaded Berg in a murder recorded and broadcast over the internet. Yesterday, however, the trail appeared to lead instead to Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. Iraqi officials said the men had been arrested in Salaheddin province, which includes Tikrit, shortly after Berg's headless body was dumped last week near a Baghdad flyover. Al-Sabawi was not among those arrested, the Iraqi official said. Police intelligence agents seized the men as they arrived to "plot other major operations", the officer told the Associated Press, without elaborating. Four suspects had arrived early for the 7pm meeting and were inside the house, waiting for a fifth associate who escaped arrest, he said. The Iraqi police appear to have done a poor job of protecting their informant, who was killed by unidentified gunmen the following day, the official admitted. Police seized weapons and explosives at the scene. Last night the suspects were believed to be still in Iraqi hands. The case is extremely sensitive, with news of the apparent arrests leaking after days of rumours. The uncertainty surrounding Berg's kidnapping intensified after US officials confirmed the FBI had questioned him three times after his arrest in the northern city of Mosul. US occupation authorities have denied he was ever in American custody during his two weeks in detention there. But this week Berg's parents released an email from an American diplomat which confirmed he had been held by the US military and was "safe".
