UK hostage pleads for life

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A British hostage pleaded for his government to save his life in a new video aired Wednesday on Arab television after the release of two Italian women and 10 other hostages. In Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces raided suspected insurgent hideouts, sparking clashes along a street in the heart of the capital.

Thirteen people were killed since Tuesday night in drive-by shootings, ambushes and grenade attacks south of the capital and elsewhere.

The freeing of the two Italian aid workers, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, raised hopes that other hostages might be released and it raised questions over how to deal with kidnappers after an Italian lawmaker said Wednesday he believed the Italian government paid a ransom, possibly of $1 million. The government denied any ransom was paid.

Hiking up the pressure for Britain to make concessions, a video aired on Al-Jazeera television showed British hostage Kenneth Bigley crouching inside what appeared to be a cage set on the floor in front of a rough brick wall. He was dressed in a orange jump suit, and at one point he cradled his head in one of his hands.

Bigley pleaded with Prime Minister Tony Blair to work for his release. "He doesn't care about me, I'm just one person," he was heard saying, referring to Blair. "Please, please, help me. I'm begging you, I'm begging you to speak, to push."

The announcer, translating Bigley's comments into Arabic in a voiceover, said Bigley asserted that Blair was lying when he said there were negotations being carried out to save his life.

Bigley urged that the kidnappers' demands be met, saying his captors did not want to kill him, according to the announcer.

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office said officials have seen the tape. "It's positive to the extent that it does appear to prove, as we'd hoped, that Ken is alive. It's undated, so that's not 100 percent," the spokesman said.

Blair's office at No. 10 Downing St. declined to comment on the tape. "It goes without saying that we are in contact with the family," a spokeswoman said.

Earlier, Blair said his government was trying to contact Bigley's kidnappers.

"The difficulty is that ...these are outside people, they are not Iraqis," Blair told Britain's ITV television. "We are trying to make contact with them and we are doing everything we possibly can." Blair told Britain's ITV television.

Bigley's son Craig and brother Philip issued a statement for airing on Arab television thanking the kidnappers for "this opportunity to see him alive again" and asking them to "please ... pass on once more our love and thoughts to him."

"We, as a family, feel that the ultimate decision to release him rests with you, the people who are holding him. We once again ask you, please show mercy to my father and release him."

"My dad, Ken Bigley, is an elderly man who is only a few weeks from retirement -- and from becoming a grandfather for the first time," the statement said.

Bigley's brother Paul told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the images of his brother chained and caged were "absolutely appalling, there's no other word for it, heart wrenching."

But he said he was pleased to see his brother still alive.

"That's the good news I see through the smoke," he said. "This is a last ditch attempt, something has to be done and something has to be done very quickly."

A day after her and Pari's release, Italian aid worker Torretta told several reporters outside her home in Rome that her Iraqi captors assured them they were not in fact in danger.

Asked if she feared she would die during her captivity, Torretta first said "Yes," but then added that their abductors "reassured us. They understood the work we did."

The two women, both 29, work for the aid group "Un Ponte per..." (A Bridge To ... ), which carries out water projects and helps Iraqi children. They were kidnapped Sept. 7 in a raid on their agency's Baghdad office.