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.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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