A military group purportedly linked to al-Qaida on Wednesday threatened to launch a "bloody war" on Europe, and Italy, a close ally of the United States on Iraq, was its prime target.

"Today, we have declared a bloody war on you and we will not stop raids against you until you return to the correct path," saida statement posted on an Islamic Web Site by the Muslim military group, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades.

The statement, issued after a three-month "truce" offered by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden expired earlier this month, urged European countries to withdraw troops from Iraq and quit their alliances with the United States.

"After the truce determined by our sheik Osama bin Laden ended,and after you have not returned to the correct path, we declare a war in your faces and in the face of your silent people whose silence proves their support to you," it added.

The military group warned it would start a "bloody war" by attacking Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades on Monday threatened to attack Italyif Berlusconi did not withdraw Italian troops from Iraq. Earlier this month, the same group threatened a "bloodbath like September 11" if Berlusconi remained in power.

In another development, an armed group announced Wednesday thatthey had executed two Pakistanis held hostage by them in Iraq.

The Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite news channel said it had received a videotape showing the killings but would not air it as it was too gruesome.

On Monday, the captors said they had kidnapped two Pakistanis and one Iraqi. The Arab-language channel showed identity cards with pictures which are believed to belong to the hostages.

The group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said in a statement aired by the channel that the two Pakistanis had been sentenced to death because their country would probably send troops to Iraq.

On Sunday, al-Jazeera reported that two Pakistanis working for an Middle East firm had gone missing in Iraq, raising fears they might have been taken captive.

A Pakistani television channel early on Sunday identified the two as Raja Azad and Sajid Naaim and both of them are from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Pakistani Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad said President Pervez Musharraf spoke with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and discussed the Iraqi situation.

"The president made it clear that we could consider sending troops only if the request comes from the Iraqi government, other Islamic countries also do the same and our parliament approves it," he said.

Pakistan, an Islamic nation of 150 million people, is a key ally of the United States in its war on "terror."

Pakistan on Thursday denounced the execution of two of its citizens as a crime against humanity and Islam.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said the killings had devastated the families of the victims and the Pakistani nation.

"We strongly condemn these brutal murders," he said. "The captors have committed a crime against humanity, against Islam andagainst the people of Pakistan and the people of Iraq."

Source: Xinhua