The boy with the knife looks barely 12. In a high-pitched voice, he denounces the bound, blindfolded man before him as an American spy. Then he hacks off the captive's head to cries of "God is great!" and hoists it in triumph by the hair. A video circulating in Pakistan records the grisly death of Ghulam Nabi, a Pakistani militant accused of betraying a top Taliban official who was killed in a December airs trike in Afghanistan.
An Associated Press reporter confirmed Nabi's identity by visiting his family in Kili Faqiran, their remote village in southwestern Pakistan.
The video, obtained by AP Television News in the border city of Peshawar on Tuesday, appears authentic and is unprecedented in jihadist propaganda because of the youth of the executioner.
The footage shows Nabi making what is described as a confession, being blindfolded with a checkered scarf. "He is an American spy. Those who do this kind of thing will get this kind of fate," says his baby-faced executioner, who is not identified. The film, overlain with jihadi songs, then shows the boy hacking and slashing at the man's neck until the head is severed.