Ken Bigley has been executed, reports claim

Ken Bigley, the British man being held hostage by Islamic militants in Iraq, has been murdered, reports emerging today have claimed.

Reuters have quoted a source claiming to have seen video footage showing the 62-year-old engineer being beheaded.

Mr Bigley, flanked by six masked men, is shown making a statement to the camera before being executed. He was killed yesterday afternoon in the Latifiya, southwest of Baghdad, according to Reuters.

The Briton was seized more than three weeks ago, along with Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, by the Tawhid and Jihad group which is led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Mr Armstrong and Mr Hensley were beheaded shortly after being taken into captivity.

The Foreign Office said that it was making efforts to ascertain the veracity of the reports.

Ken Bigley's last appeal was broadcast by Al Jazeera on September 29. The Qatar-based news agency broadcast a short sequence showing the engineer sitting squat in a mesh cage. He appeared drained and exhausted, wearing an orange boiler suit similar to the kind other hostages have been forced to wear by militant captors.

Reacting immediately to the development, Mr Bigley's son Craig and his brother Philip appeared before cameras to appeal again for his life.

"We, as a family, feel that the ultimate decision to release him rests with you, the people who are holding him. We once again ask you, please show mercy to my father and release him," Craig Bigley said.

(gmcg/mb)