World News 21-09-2004 Brit Hostage Will Be Beheaded who: Kidnapped British civilian Kenneth Bigley what: Given 24 hours to live after fellow hostage is beheaded where: Iraq when: Yesterday snippet: "The son of a British man held hostage in Iraq has urged Tony Blair to help save his father`s life following the murder of a fellow captive," reports the BBC. "A website thought to be linked to the group holding Ken Bigley and two Americans features a video showing one of the other men being beheaded." US officials have since recovered the body of Eugene Armstrong, a construction contractor, says The Independent. Jordanian radical Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is suspected to be the mastermind behind the killing. "The fate of the infidel was cutting off the head," says the hooded militant in the "sickening" video, quoted in The Mirror. "You have a 24-hour opportunity. Abide by our demand in full and release all the Muslim women, otherwise the head of the other will follow this one." The US military says there are only two women in custody in Iraq - Dr Rihab Rashid Taha, a senior scientist who worked on Saddam Hussein`s bacterial weapons programme and Dr Huda Ammash, a weapons scientist who The Telegraph says is known as "Mrs Anthrax". "At least five other Westerners are being held hostage in Iraq, including an Iraqi-American man, two female Italian aid workers and two French reporters," says The Scotsman`s deputy foreign editor, Chris Marks. "A statement purportedly from the group holding the French said at the weekend they were no longer captives but had agreed to stay with the group for some time to cover it. France said yesterday it was preparing for a long wait for their release." [... more]

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