Al-Zarqawi group may get Hassan

THE kidnappers of Iraq hostage Margaret Hassan, 59, last night threatened to hand her over to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi if their demands are not met within 48 hours.

The group made the warning in a new video tape showing aid worker Mrs Hassan, who has Irish, British and Iraq nationality, in a terrible state pleading for her life. Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group beheaded British engineer Ken Bigley last month.

The latest video was sent to Al Jazeera, which declined to broadcast the images on humanitarian grounds. But it aired the second part of the video showing a hooded man demanding British troops be withdrawn from Iraq.