BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq`s hostage crisis deepened as Islamists who beheaded two Americans let a Briton make a desperate videotaped plea, while another extremist group claimed to have executed two women Italian aid workers.
In an apparent bid to influence British domestic opinion, the Tawhid wal Jihad group holding Kenneth Bigley posted on a website a video of the engineer begging Britain`s Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet the kidnappers` demands.
"I need you (Blair) to be compassionate as you always said you were ... I don`t want to die ... Please, please release the female prisoners that are held in Iraqi prisons," he said, breaking into tears.
His face was blurred on the grainy footage, which could not be immediately authenticated, but previous claims by the Al-Qaeda-linked group on its decapitation of Bigley`s two US colleagues earlier this week turned out to be true.
The extremist organisation, which has already savagely executed several other foreigners and perpetrated dozens of deadly attacks over the past year, has demanded that all women detained by the coalition in Iraq be freed.
Later on Wednesday night, the hostage`s son, Craig Bigley, read a poignant message to his captors.
"Thank you for letting Ken make his appeal. All of the family are very grateful to you for his message...We have heard what you say, and want to continue listening to you. You have proved to the world that you are committed and determined.
"Be merciful as we know you can be. Release Ken back to his wife and family. We ask you as a family to be all merciful."
Speaking to BBC radio, Bigley`s brother Paul accused the coalition of "sabotaging" the slim hopes of release that had emerged after the Iraqi government announced Wednesday it could soon free one of two women known to be in coalition custody.
But the US embassy was swift to deny that any release was imminent, stressing that any plans to free Iraqi prisoners would be unrelated to the demands of the captors.
And on Thursday, the Iraqi government said it was in fact opposed to the release of Dr Rihab Taha, who worked on Saddam`s biological weapons programme, one of two female prisoners in the US-run detention centres in Iraq.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw conceded there was little hope of obtaining Bigley`s release, saying London would stand firm on its refusal to negotiate with terrorists.
"We continue to do everything we can to secure Kenneth Bigley`s safe release, but it would be idle to pretend that there`s a great deal of hope," Straw told BBC radio.
Iraq`s spiralling kidnapping drama continued to capture the world`s attention with the purported execution of Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simon Torretta, both aged 29.
A group calling itself the Jihad Organisation said early Thursday in a statement posted on the Internet that it had "slaughtered" the two women, who were working for the non-governmental organization "A Bridge to Baghdad".
The same group had claimed their September 7 abduction, demanding Italy withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq.
But Italian officials said they had doubts about both statements and were still trying to authenticate the claim, urging caution over the announcement of the deaths.
"We are evaluating the new statement. At the moment, we cannot say whether it is true or false," an Italian embassy official in Baghdad told AFP condition of anonymity.
The US embassy here also said it had no confirmation.
The Italian daily La Repubblica voiced doubts, noting that the kidnappers had failed to issue any video footage of the women, as has been the case in other kidnappings.
If confirmed, however, the executions of two foreign aid workers would mark yet another escalation in the wave of kidnappings and murders which has plagued Iraq since April.
Last month, an Italian journalist working in Iraq was abducted by extremists and murdered several days later after Rome refused to bow to the demands to pull its soldiers out of the country.
In the latest clash between Sunni rebels and American forces, US troops sealed off the western city of Samarra and called in air strikes Thursday, killing three people, according to local police.
Despite the chaos prevailing in the country, US President George W. Bush continued to defend his administration`s performance in handling post-war Iraq.
But his Democrat rival in the November 2 US elections, John Kerry, did not let up in his attacks, accusing Bush in his latest jab of living in "Fantasyland".
Kerry also warned in an interview with National Public Radio that he as president would refuse to send additional troops to Iraq.
Bush nevertheless received a small boost with the announcements Wednesday that South Korea had deployed 2,800 troops in the war-torn country and that NATO agreed to send a training mission.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation already has some 40 soldiers in Iraq training army officers in collaboration with the defence ministry in Baghdad and the US-led multinational forces.
The United States, backed by Britain, has pushed hard for the mission to be enlarged. Despite the agreement, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Madrid have ruled out sending any of their own troops to Iraq.