Video issues new deadline for Hassan

Kidnappers of aid worker Margaret Hassan tonight threatened to turn her over to militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi unless Britain pulls its troops out of Iraq within 48 hours.

Arab TV station Al-Jazeera broadcast a video of a hooded gunman but did not air the sound.

Instead, the presenter said the kidnappers gave Britain 48 hours to meet their demands, “primarily the withdrawal” of troops.

The newscaster said the station declined to broadcast the entire tape because “of the hostage’s condition”.

Hassan, the Iraq director of CARE International, was abducted last month in western Baghdad. No group has claimed responsibility for her kidnapping and there was no sign on the brief broadcast of any banner identifying who held her.

Al-Zarqawi’s group is responsible for beheading several foreign hostages, including British engineer Kenneth Bigley.