BAGHDAD (AFP) - The beheading of a British hostage in Iraq that shocked the world has thrown up a huge challenge for Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as he struggles to restore order ahead of elections promised for January.
The news came as US President George W. Bush and his Democratic rival John Kerry dueled about Iraq in their second election debate, while US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was on a trip to the Gulf to hold talks with Washington's allies in Iraq.
Bigley's cold-blooded murder at the hand of Islamic extremists, announced Friday by his family and confirmed by Abu Dhabi satellite television which received a video of the killing, devastated Britain and the Iraqi government.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared on television late Friday to express his "utter revulsion" at the killing of Bigley, and declared that such actions "in Iraq or elsewhere should not prevail".
The killing, by a group linked to Iraq's most wanted man Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, piled the pressure on the US-backed Iraqi government which has vowed to reclaim rebel-held cities.
"It's a disaster. It is horrible what happened," said Imad Shabib, a senior advisor to Allawi.
Allawi's government has engaged in talks with leaders from Fallujah, the city considered the nexus of resistance in Iraq and home to Zarqawi's ruthless Unity and Holy War group.
The 62-year-old civil engineer's execution fit the brutal pattern of murders carried out by the group loyal to Zarqawi, a Jordanian Islamist who has a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head.
According to British media accounts, six captors surrounded Bigley, who was kneeling in one of the orange jumpsuits which hostages have been seen wearing in Iraq, in a clear reference to the outfits US authorities use for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Bigley appeared to be pleading for his life just before being beheaded like his two American colleagues who were kidnapped with him from their home in a posh Baghdad district on September 16.
The Foreign Office refused to confirm media reports that Bigley escaped briefly before being recaptured and beheaded.
The killing raised to 29 the number of known executions of foreign workers in Iraq. Militants and criminals have kidnapped 150 foreign nationals since April, using abductions both to raise cash and debilitate US-led reconstruction efforts.
Against the violent backdrop, Rumsfeld said that the United States could send more troops to Iraq to protect elections against insurgent violence.
Rumsfeld flew to Bahrain for an unannounced meeting aboard a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf to review the situation in Iraq with defense ministers from 18 countries, most of them with troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, US forces have intensified air strikes on the rebel bastion of Fallujah in the last month, killing around 100 people, as they target suspected Zarqawi hideouts ahead of a possible campaign to seize back the rebel bastion.
A pre-dawn US air strike on the city Friday killed 12 and wounded 16, but local hospital officials said the raid actually hit a wedding party.
Looking beyond Fallujah, the coalition and Iraq have already started launching ground assaults on rebel enclaves.