Iraq

Tape of beheading emerges on Web

Tape of beheading emerges on Web

BAGHDAD - A videotape of the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley appeared Sunday on an Islamist Web site, showing the civil engineer pleading that he wanted "to live a simple life" moments before he was decapitated.

The nearly five-minute tape appeared two days after Bigley's family said it had proof that the 62-year-old civil engineer from Liverpool was dead. The body has not been found.

The tape showed Bigley, dressed in an orange prison-style jump suit and seated in front of seven armed, hooded men. Behind them was a banner of the Monotheism and Holy War group, the extremist organization that has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide attacks and beheadings of Westerners.

The Sunday Times newspaper of London reported that Bigley was killed after briefly escaping by car after British intelligence helped bribe two of the captors. Bigley was recaptured and the two captors who helped him were killed, the newspaper said.

Report: Turkish hostages freed

CAIRO - An Arab TV station said Sunday that it received a statement from Iraqi militants saying they had freed 10 Turkish hostages.

An anchor on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV, citing "special sources," said the 10 workers for Turkish construction company VISNAN have been freed.

An Al-Jazeera editor who requested anonymity told the Associated Press the report was based on a statement from the purported kidnappers. The claim could not immediately be verified.

Al-Jazeera broadcast a video Sept. 18 attributed to the Salafist Brigades of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq showing the 10 Turkish hostages in captivity.

The Turkish company said three days later it was freezing operations in hopes of saving the workers.

In attacks...

BAGHDAD: A large explosion was heard late Sunday in central Baghdad, but there was no immediate report about what caused it.

The blast occurred about 10:15 p.m. on a day when two car bombs exploded in the city, killing at least 11 people, including an American soldier.

Also in Baghdad, an Iraqi intelligence officer was killed Sunday morning in a drive-by shooting as he left home for work, according to Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry.

ANBAR PROVINCE: The U.S. command said a Marine was killed Saturday by hostile fire in Anbar province but gave no further details.

HIT: Insurgents ambushed a Marine convoy Sunday near the western town of Hit, 95 miles northwest of Baghdad, U.S. officials said. Marines killed three of their attackers and wounded five but suffered no casualties.

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