Website claims British hostage is dead
A posting on an Islamic Internet site today claimed that an al Qaida-linked group has killed British hostage Kenneth Bigley.
The claim could not immediately be verified, but surfaced on a website usually used by followers of Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to post their statements.
The site also claimed that seven British troops had been captured, but Captain Donald Francis, a spokesman for the British military said that all forces “are accounted for.”
He had no information on the claim to have executed the British hostage.
The statement, which appeared on the site typed in red, consisted of a single line.
“Tawhid and Jihad announces that it has executed the British citizen and gives you the good news of kidnapping seven British soldiers,” the statement said.
“We will be releasing the tape shortly.”
However, the British Foreign Office in London said it was aware of such a claim, but described it as a "discredited" site.
“We don’t think it’s anything to be taken too seriously,” the Foreign Office statement said.
