A British hostage in Iraq pleaded for his life on Wednesday, but two Italian women held by another group were reported to have been killed. In a video issued on-line by his captors, Kenneth Bigley begged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to have women prisoners in Iraq freed to save his life, but his family's hopes that a deal might be done were quashed by US and Iraqi officials. "I need you to help me, Mr Blair, because you are the only person now on God's earth that I can speak to," Bigley said. Britain said it had no contact with the kidnappers, would not negotiate and had little hope the 62-year-old contractor would be spared by Washington's most wanted man in Iraq, al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Iraq said there were no plans to free one of two of Saddam Hussein's weapons scientists, the only women Washington says it holds in Iraq, despite media speculation such a move might be imminent.
Another Islamist group, the Jihad Organization, said it had killed two female Italian hostages because Italy -- like Britain a key US ally in the war on Iraq -- had not heeded its call to withdraw its forces. Its statement was posted on an Internet site not often used by Iraqi militants and there was no confirmation of the claim. Most such claims have proven true in the past.
With time running out for the British hostage, US and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday they would not free female prisoners as demanded by Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group. In the last two days the group has beheaded two American men seized with Bigley in Baghdad last week because its demand was not met by a given time. For Bigley, no deadline has been set. His statement was the latest in a line of hostages' appeals released to ensure maximum pressure on authorities and in this case was targeted straight, and very personally, at Blair. "I need you to be compassionate as you always said you were, and help me, help me live so I can see my wife and my son and my mother and my brothers again," Bigley said. He wore orange overalls typical of US jails and associated around the world with images of suspected Islamists detained at Guantanamo Bay. |