Through a technical analysis, intelligence officials were able to determine "with high probability" that the speaker on a video showing Nicholas Berg's beheading was al-Zarqawi, a CIA official said. The same person is shown decapitating Berg, the official said.

Three days after Berg's body was found May 8, an Islamic Web site released a video, titled "Sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi slaughters an American infidel with his own hands."

U.S. authorities consider al-Zarqawi an ally of Osama bin Laden and say he is running his own terrorist operation.

The video shows five armed and masked men line up behind Berg. Standing in the middle, the man identified as al-Zarqawi reads a lengthy statement that criticizes Islamic scholars and the "shameful photos" of the humiliation of men and women at Abu Ghraib prison. He then decapitates Berg.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 22, 2004
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