Bigley: 'Blood on Blair's hands'

2004-10-08 22:31

Baghdad - Kidnappers beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley after twice releasing videos in which he wept and pleaded with prime minister Tony Blair for his life.

Bigley's brother blamed Blair, saying on Friday the prime minister had "blood on his hands".

Two more American soldiers died, the United States command said on Friday, one in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad and another of wounds suffered in Baghdad on October 1.

A videotape sent to Abu Dhabi TV showed Bigley kneeling in front of six masked gunmen, according to someone who viewed the footage.

One of the militants spoke in Arabic, declaring that the 62-year-old Briton would be slain because his government refused demands to release women prisoners detained in Iraq.

The speaker then pulled a knife from his belt and severed Bigley's head as three others pinned him down, said the witness, who asked not to be identified. The tape ended with the killer holding up the severed head.

Grisly footage on internet

Bigley was seized at his Baghdad home by Iraq's most feared terrorist group, Tawhid and Jihad, on September 16 along with two Americans - Eugene Armstrong, 52, and Jack Hensley, 48.

The two Americans were beheaded days later and grisly footage of the killings was posted on the internet.

Abu Dhabi TV did not broadcast the tape, saying it refused "to serve as a mouth piece for such groups or their actions". Bigley was the 28th hostage reported slain in Iraq.

Bigley worked for a United Arab Emirates company that provided services for the US military Taji, near Baghdad. Many of the hostages killed in Iraq had business ties to the Americans.

'Family has absolute proof'

United States and British officials in Iraq declined to confirm Bigley's death, saying his body had not been found.

However, Bigley's brother, Phil, said the family had received "absolute proof" of his death.

In a statement read on British television, Phil Bigley said the family believed the government had done all it could "to secure the release of Ken".

"The horror of these final days will haunt us forever," he said.

"Our only consolation is that Ken is now at peace, away from those who are capable of such atrocities."

The Bigley kidnapping, including the heart-wrenching appeals to Blair to spare his life, have re-invigorated the anti-war movement in Britain.

This came at a time when the Americans themselves were acknowledging that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction no longer existed by the time the war began in March 2003.

British foreign secretary Jack Straw said on Friday that messages were exchanged with Bigley's kidnappers through an intermediary in Iraq.

But, he said the militants refused to drop their demands, "even though they were fully aware there are no women prisoners in our custody in Iraq".

- AP