Baghdad, Oct. 8 (Reuters): British hostage Ken Bigley has been beheaded in Iraq, three weeks after he was kidnapped by militants demanding the release of women held by US-led forces, a video seen by Reuters showed today.
Guerrilla sources in the rebel-held city of Falluja said earlier that Bigley, who was being held by a militant group led by alleged al Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed yesterday in Latifiya, southwest of Baghdad.
In the video, seen by a Reuters witness in the office of a foreign news organisation in Baghdad, the 62-year-old engineer was shown making a statement as six militants stood behind him, before one cut his head off with a knife.
The tape showed Bigley wearing an orange jump suit of the type worn by detainees in US prisons including the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Commenting on earlier reports of Bigley?s death, a British foreign office spokesman said in London: ?We cannot corroborate the reports... We are in close touch with Mr Bigley?s family at this difficult time.? Britain?s Sky TV, however, quoted British government sources as saying Bigley had been killed. Bigley was kidnapped in Baghdad on September 16 by the Tawhid and Jihad Group, along with two American colleagues who were beheaded soon afterwards.
Key messages
The British government exchanged messages with the captors of Bigley in the days before they killed him, foreign secretary Jack Straw said today.
Straw said he and Prime Minister Tony Blair approved the content of the messages ? which he said did not contravene UK policy on dealing with kidnappers ? and that the government had done everything it could to secure Bigley?s release. ?Four days ago, an individual approached the British embassy in Baghdad, presenting himself as a potential intermediary with the captors,? Straw said.
?It was very clearly in Mr Bigley?s interest that we should do all we could to establish contact. Messages were exchanged with the hostage-takers in an attempt to dissuade them from carrying out their threat to kill Mr Bigley.?
Kenneth Bigley?s brother Phil confirmed that his brother had been killed in Iraq. ?We can confirm that the family has now received absolute proof that Ken Bigley was executed by his captors.?