Enlarge imageBy Fadel al-Badrani
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A video released by Muslim militants shows them beheading British hostage Kenneth Bigley, a Reuters witness says.
Bigley was shown making a statement as six militants stood behind him before one cut his head off with a knife.
Guerrilla sources in the rebel-held city of Falluja said earlier that he was killed on Thursday afternoon in Latifiya, a Sunni Muslim town southwest of Baghdad.
The tape showed Bigley wearing an orange jump suit of the type worn by detainees in U.S. prisons including the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The 62-year-old engineer was kidnapped in Baghdad on September 16 by the Tawhid and Jihad Group which has beheaded two American hostages who were seized along with the Briton. Militants have launched a spate of kidnappings as part of attempts to undermine the U.S.-led coalition ahead of January elections.
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The kidnappers had demanded U.S.-led forces in Iraq release women prisoners in Iraqi jails to spare Bigley’s life. Washington says it holds only two women in Iraq, both top weapons scientists from the days of Saddam Hussein.
The British government says it is not holding any women.
Asked to comment on Friday on reports Bigley had been killed, his brother Paul told Reuters in London: "I have heard nothing at all. I have been optimistic and remain optimistic. I am praying this news is not true."
Iraqi Interior Ministry officials in Baghdad said they had no information on the report.
FATE OF FRENCH UNKNOWN
Two Western hostages are still held in Iraq -- French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. They were held by a different group, the Islamic Army in Iraq.
Last week, Bigley appealed, in a video tape released by his kidnappers, to Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet the captor’s demands to save his life.
"Tony Blair is lying, he is lying when he said he’s negotiated. He has not negotiated. My life is cheap. He doesn’t care about me," Bigley said while squatting behind metal meshing and looking distraught.
"I am begging you for my life. Have some compassion please," he said, his voice cracking with emotion.
Blair has said his government will not negotiate with the hostage takers.
Several groups and individuals have tried to negotiate Bigley’s release. This week, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appealed to the kidnappers to free him.
The United States says Zarqawi is its top enemy in Iraq and has launched several strikes on suspected strongholds for the al Qaeda-linked leader in recent months.
Zarqawi’s group has claimed responsibility for many of the bloodiest suicide attacks in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was overthrown, and for killing several hostages.
Bigley was seized from a house in Baghdad along with two Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley last month. Tawhid and Jihad posted videos of the beheading of the Americans.
Some 30 foreign hostages are thought to have been killed in Iraq since a wave of kidnappings started in April.
