A group associated with Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in an Internet statement today that it had killed the Egyptian envoy to Iraq it had kidnapped.
Egypt's top envoy in Iraq Mr Ihab el-Sherif was kidnapped on the streets of Baghdad on Saturday. His abductors said he represented a “tyrannical” government allied to the enemies of Islam.
On Tuesday his kidnappers issued photographs of personal documents as proof it held him and said it intended to kill him.
Today's statement - posted on a well known Islamic website - said: "We al-Qaeda in Iraq announce that the judgement of God has been implemented against the ambassador of the infidels, the ambassador of Egypt."
It said: "Oh enemy of God, Ihab el-Sherif, this is your punishment in this life”.
The group posted a video showing the hostage speaking but did not show the actual killing.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak later expressed his condolences over the death of Egypt's top envoy in Iraq, calling his killers “terrorists.”
“This terrorist act will not deter Egypt from its firm position in support of Iraq and its people,” Mr Mubarak's office said in a statement carried by the state news agency MENA.
The statement did not say if Egyptian authorities had independent confirmation of the death of Ihab al-Sherif. Pakistan withdrew its ambassador from Baghdad on Tuesday after his motorcade was attacked by gunmen.
Bahrain's envoy was shot in the hand in his car in an apparent kidnap attempt.