Doha: Al-Jazeera television claimed that the bodies of two Turkish hostages who were shot dead were found in Baiji in Northern Iraq.

"Al-Jazeera learned from sources in the Iraqi police that the bodies of two Turkish hostages executed by gunfire were found on the main road near the Al-Sharkat area in the town of Baiji," a key oil refinery town in the Sunni Muslim belt that stretches North and West from the Iraqi capital, it said late last night (Aug 27, 2004).

Police transferred the two bodies to Al-Sharkat hospital, the Qatar-based satellite news channel said, without giving further details.

A group calling itself the "Islamic Tawheed (Unification) Group" meanwhile posted a statement on an Islamist website threatening to use force to stop Turkey sending "military equipment and assistance to the invading forces" via its border with Iraq.

The reported execution of the two Turks comes just a day after the killing of kidnapped Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni.

Turkey's NTV news channel on Wednesday aired footage of two Turks, Abdullah Ozdemir and Ali Daskin, both engineers kidnapped from their worksite at an unidentified location in Iraq.

The video showed armed militants threatening to execute them unless their company withdraws from Iraq within 72 hours.

The abduction of the two engineers brought to at least six the number of Turks known to be in captivity in Iraq.