BAGHDAD, 9 October 2004 — An Al-Qaeda-linked group beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley, three weeks after kidnapping him to press a demand for the release of women held by US-led forces. Bigley was killed Thursday afternoon in Latifiya, southwest of the capital Baghdad, militant sources in Fallujah said.
Abu Dhabi television said it had received a videotape showing the beheading of the hostage but decided against showing the footage. “Abu Dhabi television took an editorial decision not to show such footage,” it said.
“Abu Dhabi TV refuses to serve as a mouthpiece for such groups or their actions. Abu Dhabi TV extends its sincere condolences to Mr. Bigley’s family and renews its condolences to the families of all those killed in Iraq,” it said.
A video seen by a Reuters journalist in the office of a foreign news organization in Baghdad showed the 62-year-old engineer appearing to plead for his life as six men stood behind him. One read a statement, then cut his head off with a knife.
The tape showed the unshaven Bigley wearing an orange jump suit of the type worn by detainees in US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. A flag of the Tawhid wal Jihad group, led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, hung above the militants.
Bigley’s family said they had “absolute proof” of his murder. In a statement read on British television, Bigley’s brother Phil said: “The horror of these final days will haunt us forever. Our only consolation is that Ken is now at peace, away from those who are capable of such atrocities.”
Another brother, Paul Bigley, turned his anger on British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “Mr. Blair has blood on his hands,” Paul Bigley said in a statement to an anti-war group in Britain. “Please, please stop this war and prevent other lives being lost.”
Early yesterday, American warplanes struck a building in rebel-held Fallujah where the US command said leaders of Zarqawi’s terror network were meeting. Dr. Ahmed Saeed said his hospital in Fallujah received 13 dead, including the groom, and 17 wounded, including the bride. He said most of the injured were female relatives of the groom who were staying at the house after the wedding celebration.
Mohammed Jawad, who lives next door, said he had just moved into the central neighborhood to escape repeated shelling on Fallujah’s outskirts. His brother and six nephews were killed in the strike, which damaged their house.
Meanwhile, a US soldier was killed and another wounded when “anti-Iraqi forces attacked their patrol near Tuz at about 11:43 a.m.,” a US military statement said, using the common military term for insurgents.
Tuz, 60 km south of Kirkuk, is home to Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen and has been rocked by ethnic violence.
— Additional input from agencies
