A militant group in Iraq claimed in an Internet statement today that it has executed a female Italian journalist for spying on "holy fighters".

The statement was however signed by a different group than the one that had earlier claimed to have kidnapped Giuliana Sgrena, 56, who works for the left wing daily Il Manifesto.

There was no way to verify the authenticity of either statement, both of which were posted on a website used by militant groups.

The Jihad Organization claimed responsibility for the kidnapping on Friday in a statement which called on Italy to pull its troops out of Iraq within 72 hours. Yesterday, the same group pledged to release Sgrena in a few days, because an investigation determined she was not a spy and after an appeal for her freedom by Sunni clerics.

Today’s statement announcing her death was signed by the Mujahedeen Brigade in Iraq.

"Your brothers in the Mujahedeen (holy fighters) Brigade have executed the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena after making sure that she has spied on the mujahedeen for the American Crusade troops," said the statement.

It said the killing was a message to the American government "that this would be the destiny of agents and spies." It was also warning to Italy against continuing with America in its war on Iraq and a message to the holy fighters to "carry on that path until the liberation of the last spot from Muslim land, and know that the occupation of Iraq is the beginning of the end of America, God willing".

Sgrena was kidnapped by gunmen who blocked her car outside Baghdad University on Friday.

Meanwhile four Egyptian telecommunications engineers who were kidnapped in Baghdad on Sunday escaped unhurt yesterday, as American troops stormed the house where they were being held.

"Two were released when U.S. forces barged into where they were being held in Baghdad and the other two escaped on their own ... The Americans caught one of the kidnappers," said Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom.

The upsurge of violence in Iraq continued today, as a suicide bomber killed at least 13 people in an attack at an Iraqi army recruitment centre in Baghdad. Yesterday, suicide bombers killed 27 people in attacks in two Iraqi cities, in the worst bloodshed since the country’s election nine days ago.

Police said the bomber was on foot, and targeted a truck carrying recruits into the base, housed in a disused airport. A plume of black smoke rose into the sky above the recruitment centre and ambulances raced to the scene. Hospital officials said all the victims appeared to be young men.

Guerrillas have frequently attacked Iraqis queuing up to join the police and army. Most of those killed yesterday in Mosul and Baquba were either policemen or civilians looking for work with the police.

Al-Qaeda’s wing in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for those blasts and vowed further attacks.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, police said that a bomb outside a popular restaurant killed one Iraqi, while gunmen ambushed the convoy of an Iraqi politician, killing two of his sons.

The politician, Mithal al-Alusi, who has been a vocal critic of Syria and Iran and was widely criticised in Iraq for visiting Israel last year, survived the attack.

Three Iraqi soldiers and two insurgents were killed in a firefight on a road leading south from Baghdad to the city of Hilla, the Iraqi army said. Eighteen insurgents were arrested.

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