EUGENE ARMSTRONG, a construction contractor and one of the two American hostages seized together with the British engineer Ken Bigley in Baghdad last week, was beheaded last night.
A video of the incident was posted on the internet by the militant group holding the three men, the Arabic television channel al-Jazeera reported. Five militants, four armed and all dressed in black, stood behind Mr Armstrong, whose body was recovered and identified last night.
Iraqi police discovered Mr Armstrong’s body near a mosque in Baghdad. He was dressed in an orange boiler suit to mimic the appearance of suspects held by the US in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. An American official said: “The body is now in US custody.”
The man in the centre, believed to be key terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, read out a statement, then appeared to pull a knife, rush to the hostage from behind and cut his throat until the head was severed.
During the statement before the killing he said that the group was taking revenge for female Iraqi prisoners and called President Bush “a dog”.
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Al-Zarqawi added: “You, sister, rejoice. God’s soldiers are coming to get you out of your chains and restore your purity by returning you to your mother and father.”
Addressing Mr Bush, he said: “Now, you have people who love death just like you love life. Killing for the sake of God is their best wish, getting to your soldiers and allies are their happiest moments, and cutting the heads of the criminal infidels is implementing the orders of our lord.”
Al-Zarqawi gave warning that the remaining two hostages, Mr Bigley and Jack Hensley, the other American, would be killed within 24 hours if their demands were not met. He appeared to indicate that the hostages would be killed one at a time and did not specify whether Mr Hensley or Mr Bigley would be next.
A statement, issued on an Arabic website before the video was released, said: “The commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, God protect him, today slaughtered the first American hostage. The group will carry out the slaughter of the others next.”
Last night the Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “The Government utterly condemns the kidnapping and murder of all innocent civilians. This appalling crime strengthens our resolve to work with the Iraqi Government and people to bring security, stability and democracy to Iraq.”
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President Bush said in response to the killing: “We will stay on the offensive. They will behead people in order to shake our will. These people are ideologues of hatred.”
The website posting came some hours after the deadline set for murder of the hostages had passed. Mr Bigley’s family had been warned to expect the worst, despite efforts to find the hostages. Last night Mr Bigley’s son made a direct plea to the Prime Minister. Speaking from his mother’s house in Liverpool, Craig Bigley, 33, said: “I ask Tony Blair personally to consider the amount of bloodshed already suffered. Please meet the demands and release my father, only you can save him now.”
Earlier yesterday Mr Blair, asked about the Government’s efforts to secure Mr Bigley’s release, said: “I don’t think it is sensible for us to say anything at all at the present time, except to say, obviously, that we are focused on doing what we can.”
The Foreign Office had issued an appeal in Arabic on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya television station for help in locating the men. Mr Bigley’s brother Philip also took part in broadcasts to Iraq.
But Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, in London for talks with Mr Blair and Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said his interim Government, would not negotiate: “Our principal drive is not to negotiate with hostage-takers and not to negotiate with terrorists, and this is where we find our strength is.”
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Al-Zarqawi, who has a $25 million (£14 million) bounty on his head, claims to have beheaded the US hostage Nick Berg, in May and a South Korean driver, Kim Sun Il, in June. When the three hostages appeared in a video last weekend they were heard confessing that they were working for the US Army at the Taji military base, 15 miles north of Baghdad.
Three Kurdish men, who were abducted while driving military vehicles to the same base, were beheaded at the weekend. Two Iraqi men working at the Taji base were also shot and killed at the weekend. Meanwhile, 18 Iraqi National Guard members held hostage were released yesterday after a call by Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric, according to one of his aides.