Vittorio Arrigoni, Kidnapped Italian Activist Found Dead In Gaza - 15th Apr 2011

A kidnapped Italian activist has been found dead in Gaza after he was killed by a radical Islamist group inspired by al Qaeda.

It is the first time a foreigner has been killed in the Palestinian territory after being kidnapped.

The Salafist extremists had posted a video of Vittorio Arrigoni on YouTube, tied up and blindfolded.

They had threatened to kill him by 5pm on Friday, if Hamas did not release a number of Palestinian prisoners including one of the group's leaders.

But a spokesman for the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said: "The Italian was killed by suffocation and his body was found in a street of the city of Gaza."

Italy's Foreign Ministry has denounced the killing and has expressed "its deep horror" over what it called Mr Arrigoni's "barbaric murder".

Sources have told Sky News that he was strangled.

Hamas say two suspected kidnappers had been arrested and that security officials were looking for accomplices.

It is thought the arrests were made before the Italian was killed.

The intervention by Hamas may have caused the group to kill their captive ahead of the deadline they had issued. Read More