A group led by al-Qaida-linked terrorist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility Sunday for the execution of 49 Iraqi army recruits in eastern Iraq.

Members of the Al-Qaida group of Jihad (Holy War) have successfully killed 48 corrupt personnel in the country of two rivers, said the group in a statement posted on an Islamist website.

It was unable to verify the authenticity of the claim.

The victims were travelling from a military base in eastern Iraq toward south on a holiday leave when they were intercepted and executed, according to the statement.

49 Iraqi soldiers shot to death

A total of 49 bodies have been found dead near the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, each one with a single bullet in the head, the Iraqi police said.

Thirty-seven of the bodies were recovered Saturday at a village near the Iran borders where they appeared to had been ordered to lie on the ground before being killed, said the police.

Early Sunday, 12 more corpses were found in a mini-bus wreckage near by and it seemed they were shot dead while attempting to escape. The bus had been burned out.

The attack was the deadliest in the wave of assaults on US-trained Iraqi army, the National Guards and the police, who were considered by insurgents as traitors and collaborators with the occupation troops.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terror mastermind, was believed involved in a number of lethal attacks in Iraq, including car bombings and kidnappings.

A bounty of 25 million dollars has been offered for information leading to his capture.

His group, previously known as Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and HolyWar), earlier announced that it had changed its name to show allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2004)