IRAQ: Terrorists holding hostage Kenneth Bigley are believed to have handed him on to a more moderate group looking to sell the Briton for a substantial ransom, according to a Kuwaiti newspaper editor.
Jassim Bodai, editor of al-Rai al-Aam, said the group now holding Mr Bigley is the same one that freed two Italian aid workers last week for $1 million. The deal was first reported by Mr Bodai's newspaper. Mr Bodai added later that, although he could not confirm the exchange had taken place, he believed it had happened. "We are confident that Mr Bigley is now in safer hands."
Mr Bodai said he did not know how much the group wanted for Mr Bigley's release, or if any money was exchanged between those called al-Raid al-Sud, or Black Flag, and militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Mr Bigley's brother, Paul, who is working for his release from his home in Amsterdam, said no contact had been made with the new group but he believed the exchange had taken place. He said he was prepared to fly to Kuwait to pay any ransom in full.
"My bag is packed and I have an open-ended ticket and I can get to the airport as soon as something is happening."
In recent days the Bigley family have been in touch with the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadafy and with the Irish Government. The hostage's mother is Irish.
The Gadafy foundation has brokered high-profile hostage exchanges in countries like the Philippines. Dublin has in turn been in contact with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who sent an official to Baghdad and is now trying to involve Jordan's King Abdullah in the campaign for Mr Bigley's release.
An Islamic website quoted an Iraqi cleric who met Mr Bigley on Saturday as saying: "The captors have asked for clarification of his Irish heritage. They clearly stated to me that they have no fight with the Irish people, but were unsure if he was an Irishman or English," Imam Syed al-Karemm is quoted as saying.
Mr Bigley (62) and two American colleagues were kidnapped 19 days ago by the Tawhid and Jihad group led by Jordanian al-Zarqawi, suspected of links to al-Qaeda. The two Americans were beheaded.
The precariousness of Mr Bigley's position was underlined yesterday when militants released a gruesome video of two foreign workers being executed. The men identify themselves as an Italian of Iraqi origin and a Turk shortly before being shot in the back of the head. A captor who appeared in the video accused the two of spying.
More than 100 foreigners have been taken hostage in recent months, with 27 executed.
A series of car-bomb blasts tore through Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday, killing at least 26 people and wounding more than 100.
A car-bomb struck near one of the entrances to the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the Iraqi interim government, killing at least 15 people and wounding 80, a hospital official said.
No US troops were killed or wounded, a spokesman said.
A second bomb exploded an hour later as a US military convoy was passing along Sadoun Street, a thoroughfare on the eastern side of the Tigris where several hotels used by foreign contractors are located.
"I saw body parts scattered across the road. It was a terrible sight," said one eyewitness.
In Mosul, a car-bomb exploded outside a primary school, killing five people, including two children, and wounding 11.