WORLD
IN IRAQ TERRORISTS EXECUTES ITALIAN HOSTAGE
The Qatar-based channel said it had received a videotape showing the journalist after his execution, but had decided not to release it as it would be too shocking for viewers.
Al-Jazeera quoted a statement attributed to the kidnappers saying the Italian had been slain under sharia law.
It said the decision "was taken after the refusal by Italy to reply favourably to the demand (by the group) to withdraw its soldiers from Iraq within 48 hours."
Baldoni's captors had on Tuesday threatened to kill their hostage unless Italy withdrew its 3,000 troops from Iraq within 48 hours. Their threat came in a video also broadcast by Al-Jazeera.
The Italian government, a staunch supporter of the US-led invasion of Iraq, initially rejected the kidnappers' ultimatum, saying it would maintain its "civil and military" presence in the oil-rich country.
But early on Thursday Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Rome was prepared to pull its soldiers out if the interim government in Baghdad requested it.
Italian sources in Iraq confirmed the Al-Jazeera report of Baldoni's death to Italy's Ansa news agency.
"These are horrifying pictures," said one Italian source who had seen the videotape. An Italian civil servant was heading for Qatar to obtain a copy of the video, Ansa said.