Iraqi group: US marine sent to ’safe haven’

In a statement delivered to Aljazeera, a purported Iraqi resistance group has said it has sent a US marine, who had earlier been reported killed, to a safe place.

The group, calling itself "Islamic Response - the security wing of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq", said on Monday it sent Cpl Wasif Ali Hassun, a US Marine of Lebanese heritage, to a "safe place" but without specifying the exact location.

The armed group said Hassun announced he will not rejoin the US army.

The US marines said they had no news of Hassoun’s release and were still listing him as captured. "We’re not going to comment on what Aljazeera is saying," said Lieutenant Corporal TV Johnson.

"When we have more information on his status, which is proven, we’ll release it."

Aljazeera broadcast a videotape on 27 June showing Hassun kneeling blindfolded as a curved sword loomed overhead.

An audio statement from armed fighters threatening to kill him unless the US released all Iraqis in "occupation jails" accompanied the video portion of the tape.

On Sunday, a group calling itself the Army of Ansar al-Sunna denied reports published on Islamist websites that said it had decapitated Hassun.

Family relieved

"The denial gave us a big relief," Hassoun’s brother, Sami, said by telephone from the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where he, his father and several other relatives live.

Sami Hassoun renewed his appeal to the captors to release his brother, a translator who was serving his second stint in Iraq. Hassoun, 24, speaks Arabic and French as well as English.

Other armed groups have captured and threatened to behead foreign Muslim captives, creating an uproar among many Muslims, including other armed fighters.

All the captured Muslims aside from Hassoun have been released unharmed.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/44F0F04C-0F4D-40A7-AD41-7A56C5E03528.htm