A total of 15 Iraqi national guardsmen were shot dead by an Iraqi militant group, a website statement said Saturday.
Ansar al-Sunna, an Islamic group believed to have links with al- Qaida network, said its militants executed the 15 Iraqi soldiers who were kidnapped last week in Hit, a town 140 km northwest of Baghdad.
The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.
Last Saturday, the group said in an Internet statement that it had abducted 15 Iraqi national guardsmen west of Baghdad.
The Iraqi police said the soldiers were kidnapped after finishing their work at a US military base in the restive western province of Al-Anbar.
Ansar al-Sunna is one of the most aggressive insurgent groups in Iraq, which claimed responsibility for the Dec. 21 attack on a US military base in the northern city of Mosul that killed 22 people, including 14 US soldiers.
It was also blamed for the executions of 12 Nepalese construction workers last August.