Prime Minister Tony Blair to withdraw all United Kingdom forces from Iraq, Al-Jazeera television showed.
"Please help me," the weeping and terrified Margaret Hassan begged in a video, aired by the Arabic television station.
"This might be my last hour….I don’t want to die like (Kenneth) Bigley," she said, referring to the British kidnapped engineer who was beheaded earlier this month by militants.
"The British people, tell Mr. Blair to take the troops out of Iraq and not bring them here to Baghdad. Because) that’s why people like myself and Mr. Bigley have been caught."
"Please, please, I beg of you," she said.
Before he was executed, Bigley also appeared in videos begging Blair to save his life by withdrawing the British troops from Iraq, a key demand by the hostage takers.
TEARS AND TISSUE
Margaret Hassan — an Irish-British-Iraqi woman who has been doing humanitarian work in Iraq over 25 years, including distributing medicine and food, broke down in tears and buried her face in a tissue, Al-Jazeera’s Internet website said.
Al Jazeera did not say how it obtained the tape, nor name the group holding Hassan. However Militants loyal to al Qaeda supporter Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed are known to have claimed responsibility for kidnapping and killing Bigley.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called Friday’s video "distressing" and said in a statement he has "the greatest sympathy for what her family is suffering." "Margaret Hassan has spent more than 30 years working for the Iraqi people. We hope all Iraqis will join us in calling for her immediate release."
Hassan’s video message came shortly after CARE Australia, which was responsible for Iraqi operations, announced it had temporarily suspended its activities because of the hostage crisis.
Margaret Hassan was kidnapped in Baghdad early Tuesday, October 19, as she was on her way to work in western Baghdad, CARE International said.
REPLACING TROOPS
Her kidnapping came two days before Blair agreed to move some UK troops from the zone they patrol in southern Iraq to the area near Baghdad, to reinforce American forces likely to be sent to attack the militant stronghold of Falluja, the Reuters news agency reported.
Care International is one of the world’s largest independent global relief and development organizations and works in Iraq on primary health care and water projects.
Dozens of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq, while it’s local Christian population has also become targets for attacks and hostage takings because of its alleged support for the U.S.-led operations in Iraq. At least 32 of hostages have been killed by militants and insurgents.
Their groups as well as remnants of the old Saddam Hussein regime were also believed to have been involved in fighting Friday, October 22, which reportedly raged near Buhriz, a former Saddam Hussein stronghold about 35 miles (56 kilometers) kilometers) northeast of Baghdad.
MORE FIGHTING
The Associated Press (AP) news agency quoted the military as saying that they were exchanging gun, rocket and artillery fire as U.S. forces scoured palm groves in search of hidden rebel weaponry.
Between 20 and 25 insurgents were in the fight, Lt. Col. Keitron Todd told The Associated Press in nearby Baqouba. U.S. forces killed one suspected insurgent, but no Americans were reported dead, Todd reportedly said.
There was more human suffering as the Macedonian Foreign Ministry confirmed that three Macedonian contractors kidnapped in Iraq were beheaded by their captors, AP said. Also a car bomb exploded Friday near an American armored vehicle in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, wounding five U.S. soldiers, the military was quoted as saying.
Amid the reported miseries one Turkish family had reason to celebrate, after Abdurrahman Yildirim, a Turkish welder kidnapped last week, escaped from his captors after they left a door open, AP quoted his uncle as saying. Yildirim made it apparently to Iraqi and U.S. authorities and called his family in Turkey on Wednesday, October 20.
WITH AUTHOR STEFAN J. BOS
