Italians killed as hostage in plea for life

AN Islamist group in Iraq said last night it killed two female Italian hostages in a statement posted on an internet site not often used by Iraqi militants.

The group, calling itself the Jihad Organisation, said it had killed the women after Italy did not heed its call to withdraw its forces from Iraq. A group with a similar name, the Islamic Jihad Organisation, said on September 12 that it would kill the hostages in 24 hours if Italian troops did not leave Iraq.

Meanwhile, British hostage Kenneth Bigley was made to plead for his life last night in the latest video from his abductors.

Mr Bigley was seen making a direct plea to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save his life in footage broadcast on an Islamic website. "To Mr Blair, my name is Ken Bigley, from Liverpool," the blindfolded man said in the videotape. "I think this is possibly my last chance," the speaker said in the grainy video. "I don't want to die. I don't deserve to. Please free female prisoners held in Iraqi prisons.

"Please help them. I need you to help me, Mr Blair, because you are the only person now on God's Earth that I can speak to. Please, please help me see my wife, who cannot go on without me." Mr Bigley and two American hostages were kidnapped in Baghdad last week.