Video may show Iraq aid worker killed, husband says

7.15am

BAGHDAD - Margaret Hassan, a British aid worker kidnapped in Baghdad a month ago, has probably been killed, her Iraqi husband and British diplomats said on Tuesday after viewing a video apparently showing her being shot.

"I have been told that there is a video of Margaret which appears to show her murder," Tahsin Hassan told Reuters in Baghdad, adding he was not entirely sure of its authenticity.

"There is a tape that appears to show Margaret's murder," an official at the British embassy in Baghdad told Reuters, adding that it was "probably genuine".

Al Jazeera television said it had received a video-tape which appeared to show a gunman shooting her.

Tahsin Hassan appealed to the kidnappers to return his wife's body for burial if indeed they had killed her.

"I want to know if she is alive or dead. If she's dead I want to know where she is so I can bury her in peace," he said, stressing her dedication to her adoptive land.

"Margaret lived with me for more than 30 years in Iraq and dedicated her life to serving the Iraqi people."

Dublin-born Margaret Hassan, who has joint British and Iraqi nationality, was seized on October 19 while on her way to work at Care International, for which she was Iraq country director.

Hassan had appeared in video tapes released by her unknown captors calling on the British government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. At one stage, her captors threatened to hand her over to a group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi if Britain did not pull out its troops within 48 hours.

But earlier this month, Zarqawi's group posted a message on an Islamic web site urging Hassan's captors to free her unless she were proven to be a spy.

It remained unclear who had been holding the aid worker most recently.

Few foreign women have been taken hostage in Iraq. Last month, Zarqawi's group beheaded British engineer Kenneth Bigley after London refused to withdraw its forces.

Militants have waged a campaign of kidnappings and killings to try to force US-led troops and foreigners to leave Iraq. More than 35 foreign hostages have been killed.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq