An Iraqi Islamic militant group said on Monday that it was holding Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, a US marine of Lebanese heritage, but he was safe at a location they did not identify, reported the Arab television channel Al-Jazeera.

The group calling itself the Islamic Retaliation Movement said in a statement that it has moved the abducted US marine to "a place of safety" after he pledged not to return to the American armed forces, said the channel.

In the statement the channel had received, the group did not say where Hassoun had been taken.

Lieutenant Corporal T.V. Johnson from the US marines in Iraq said they had no news of Hassoun's release and were still listing him as captured, adding "we're not going to comment on what al-Jazeera is saying."

On Wednesday, al-Jazeera broadcast a tape from the group showing the blindfolded Hassoun with a sword over his head while the group threatened to decapitate him unless all prisoners were released in Iraq.

The US marines confirmed afterwards that Hassoun went missing on June 21.

On Sunday, a group calling itself the Army of Ansar al-Sunnadenied reports on Islamist websites that said it had decapitated Hassoun.

Source: Xinhua