Family of Dead British Soldier Refute Blair's Execution Claim

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 29, 2003

Family of Dead British Soldier Refute Blair's Execution Claim

Grieving relatives of a British soldier killed in Iraq denied British Prime Minister Tony Blair's claim that he had been executed by Iraqi forces, a British newspaper reported on Friday.

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Grieving relatives of a British soldier killed in Iraq denied British Prime Minister Tony Blair's claim that he had been executed by Iraqi forces, a British newspaper reported on Friday.

Nina Allsopp, sister of Sapper Luke Allsopp, was quoted by The Daily Mirror as saying that the British Army had told her that her brother had died instantly in combat.

"The Colonel from his barracks came around to our house to tell us he was not executed," Nina Allsopp was quoted as saying.

"We can't understand why people are lying about what happened. It must be a mistake," Nina Allsopp added.

"It's important to us that people know the truth, that people know what really happened," she said.

Allsopp, 24, is one of the two soldiers whose bodies were shown Wednesday by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Allsopp and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, both bomb disposal experts with the Royal Engineers, disappeared after theirLand Rover was attacked Sunday at Az Zubayr, near Basra in southern Iraq.

Blair, speaking in the United States at a joint news conference with US President George W. Bush on Thursday, said the two soldiers had been "executed" by Iraqi forces and called their treatment "an act of cruelty beyond comprehension."

Blair's official spokesman later said the government "cannot be absolutely sure" the men had been executed, but said the evidence pointed to that conclusion.

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