British hostage Ken Bigley was beheaded near Baghdad on Thursday afternoon, insurgent sources in the rebel-held town of Fallujah said yesterday.
Abu Dhabi Television, quoting "informed" sources in Iraq, had said earlier that the militant group led by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had killed Bigley.
Britain's Foreign Office said it was aware of the reports.
"We cannot corroborate the reports ... We are in close touch with Mr Bigley's family at this difficult time," a Foreign Office spokesman said in London.
The insurgent sources said Bigley was killed in the town of Latifiya, about 35km southwest of the Iraqi capital.
They declined to say how they had got their information.
Britain's Sky TV, quoting British government sources, also said Bigley had been killed.
The 62-year-old engineer was kidnapped in Baghdad on Sept. 16 by the Tawhid and Jihad Group which has beheaded two American hostages who were seized along with the Briton.
The kidnappers had demanded US-led forces in Iraq release women prisoners in Iraqi jails to spare Bigley's life. Washington says it holds only two women in Iraq, both top weapons scientists from the days of former president Saddam Hussein.
The British say they are not holding any women.
Iraqi Interior Ministry officials in Baghdad said they had no information on the report.
Meanwhile, US warplanes struck a building in rebel-held Fallujah where the US command said leaders of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network were meeting early yesterday. A doctor said the attack killed 13 people, including a groom on his wedding night, and wounded 17 others.
The attack came despite signs of progress in negotiations to bring Iraqi government forces back into Fallujah for the first time in months.
Elsewhere, an aide to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr offered on Thursday to disarm his Mahdi Army militia in a move that could bring an end to weeks of fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City. The government welcomed the offer and suggested other militant groups also lay down their arms.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS