Hostage Bigley has been killed claims Gulf TV
British hostage Ken Bigley has been killed by his captors in Iraq, Abu Dhabi television reported today.
An editor at Abu Dhabi TV in the United Arab Emirates said the report was based on “informed sources” in Baghdad, but would not comment when asked if a videotape had been received.
The station said only that it was confident in its sources and would not say if it had a tape of the killing.
There have been past claims about hostages being killed – including Mr Bigley - that could not be substantiated.
No postings surfaced immediately on Islamic websites, where such claims often are posted, about the 62-year-old Liverpool engineer being killed following the Abu Dhabi report.
Mr Bigley was abducted on September 16 with two Americans from their residence in a smart Baghdad neighbourhood by the militant Tawhid and Jihad group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, were decapitated. Graphic videos of their murders were posted on the internet, along with videos of Mr Bigley pleading with Prime Minister Tony Blair to save him.
There have been false claims about hostages in Iraq being executed in the past, notably those involving two Italian women who were released last week. A million dollar ransom was allegedly paid for their freedom.
On September 25, an internet posting claimed that Mr Bigley had been killed, but the website had been unreliable in the past. The same site carried claims that the two Italian aid workers kidnapped on September 7 – Simona Pari and Simona Torretta – had been killed. They returned to Italy last week.
