Al Qeada Claims To Have Killed Egytian Hostage

If this is true and you add it together with the bombings in London today, Al Qaeda is on a roll:

Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web posting Thursday that it had killed Egypt’s top envoy in Iraq, showing a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself. The video did not show his death.

A statement purportedly from al-Qaida said it delayed claiming responsibility for the Saturday abduction of Ihab al-Sherif “to be able to capture as many ambassadors as we can.”

The claim of responsibility was posted Tuesday following kidnap attempts against top diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain in a campaign to isolate Iraq’s U.S.-backed government in the Arab and Muslim world.

“We announce in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq that the verdict of God against the ambassador of the infidels, the ambassador of Egypt, has been carried out. Thank God,” a written statement in the Web posting said.

The video showed al-Sherif blindfolded and wearing a polo shirt. He identified himself as the head of Egypt’s mission in Iraq and said he worked previously in Israel, where Egypt maintains an embassy. Al-Sherif was deputy Egyptian ambassador in Israel from 1999-2003. However, the tape did not show al-Sherif’s death. Previous al-Qaida tapes did show hooded men butchering their captives.

This raises a host of questions, such as:

Is it true? Why didn’t the video show the killing? Is that due to backlash in the wake of beheading videos last year that were in effect “snuff films?” If it’s not true, what’s going on behind the scenes? If it IS true was this timed for the bombing murders in London today — the worst attack on London since World War II?