Iraq, three weeks after his capture, a militant video showed Friday, October 8. The Reuters news agency quoted guerrilla sources in the rebel-held city of Falluja as saying earlier that Bigley, who was being held by a militant group led by alleged al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed on Thursday afternoon in Latifiya, southwest of Baghdad.
In the video, seen by a Reuters witness in the office of a foreign news organization 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 U.S. prisons including the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Reuters said.
Initial news of Bigley’s killing was broadcast on Friday by Abu Dhabi television saying it received the information on his killing from "informed sources" in Baghdad.
DESPERATE PRAYER
Asked about the first report of Bigley’s death, from Abu Dhabi TV, 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."
The group which kidnapped Bigley and two Americans from an upscale neighborhood in Baghdad on September 16 called itself Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War). The group is led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man considered by the United States its worst enemy in Iraq.
Kidnappers initially demanded that coalition forces in Iraq release all female Muslim women being held in Iraqi jails. Washington has claimed that it is holding only two women, both high-ranking weapons scientists in Saddam Hussein’s regime. Britain denied holding any female prisoners.
REFUSING TO NEGOTIATE
Both Washington and London refused to negotiate with the militants, amid fears it could spark more kidnappings. The Americans kidnapped along with Bigley, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, were earlier decapitated by their captors, graphic videos of which were posted on the Internet.
He was last heard from on September 29, when Al-Jazeera Television broadcast a video of him squatting behind metal meshing, again addressing Prime Minister Blair.
"I am begging you for my life. Have some compassion please," he said as he implored the British leader to meet his captors’ demands. Westerners are not the only targets, as Iraq’s Christian minority have also suffered under several kidnappings and killings. Muslim militants have accused Christians of supporting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Thousands of Christians are believed to have fled the country in recent months.
WITH AUTHOR STEFAN J. BOS
