Special forces sent to hunt down BigleyÂ’s killer
The Herald
IAN BRUCE and MICHAEL SETTLE
October 11 2004
AMERICA has transferred its ultra-secret Task Force 121 commando unit from the hunt for Osama bin Laden to tracking down Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist thought responsible for the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley.
The unit, composed of US special forces with detachments from Britain's SAS, has been ordered "as a matter of urgency" to find and kill or capture al Zarqawi, the ruthless leader of the Tawhid and Jihad organisation in Iraq.
The commando unit's transfer from Afghanistan to Iraq is seen as a reflection both of the failure of coalition intelligence to pinpoint bin Laden's whereabouts and of the urgency to end al Zarqawi's headline-grabbing role in hostage-taking and car-bomb atrocities in Iraq.
Task Force 121's move was last night confirmed by Major-General John Cooper, the former King's Own Scottish Borderers' officer who is deputy commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The special forces unit, sometimes known as "the activity" or "grey fox", has spent almost a year operating in the mountains on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Before that, it was instrumental in locating and arresting Saddam Hussein and in the trapping and killing of his two sons, Uday and Qusai.
News of the enhanced effort to find al Zarqawi came as a sickening video of Mr Bigley's final moments circulated on the internet. In five minutes of footage posted on an Islamic website, the 62-year-old engineer makes one last desperate plea for his life.
Mr Bigley makes a direct appeal to Tony Blair, saying: "Here I am again, Mr Blair, very, very close to the end of my life. You do not appear to have done anything at all to help me." He adds his captors' patience "is wearing thin". Moments later, he is beheaded.
Yesterday, Hoshiyar Zebari, Iraq's interim foreign minister, said it was "likely" the Briton had briefly escaped. Iraqi sources said Mr Bigley was free for up to 12 hours after being helped by one of his kidnappers. However, after taking a wrong turn he was recaptured and executed.
As prayers were said for Mr Bigley and his family in their home city of Liverpool and across the UK, Peter Kilfoyle, their local MP, warned other contract workers contemplating going to Iraq: "Don't go. It's a war zone."
Last night Iraqi kidnappers released 10 Turkish hostages they had held for over a month after their Turkish employer said it would leave Iraq, al Jazeera television said.
At Westminster, the prime minister provoked fresh controversy when it was revealed he was drawing up a "special Iraq honours list" to reward civil servants. A leaked Whitehall memo showed officials who worked on the flawed weapons dossier could be in line for awards in the New Year's honours list. Mr Blair is said to believe as many as 50 non-military officials should be given knighthoods, OBEs, MBEs and other awards.
Last night, a Downing Street spokesman said: "We don't comment on leaks," then added: "This is primarily about recognising the sacrifice of people who have worked at the sharp end in Iraq. "
In Baghdad, car bombers struck twice in rapid succession in the Iraqi capital yesterday, killing at least 11 people including an American soldier and wounding around 16.
The attacks came as Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, arrived for an unannounced visit, his first to the country since the US handed over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government June 28.
Libya has arrested a group of 17 people "of Indian and Central Asian origin", suspected of links to al Qaeda, saidEgypt's official Middle East News Agency. It quoted Nasser al-Mabrouk Abdallah, Libyan public order minister, as saying "preliminary investigations proved that this group of 17 people had relations to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organisation".
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