Bigley 'with new group'
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British hostage Ken Bigley may have been handed over by his terrorist kidnappers to another Iraqi gang, reports in the Middle East claimed today.
The report, in a Kuwaiti newspaper, brings fresh hope that the engineer may be released after almost three weeks.
Mr Bigley, 62, had been held by Iraq's most wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. His brother Paul said he had been told a similar report had come a week before two Italian hostages who had apparently been held by al-Zarqawi were ransomed.
Today Paul Bigley said: "He has possibly been handed over from the political baddies to the regular baddies. That means there can be financial negotiations for a ransom."
An Iraqi cleric today said he had met Mr Bigley while negotiating with his captors for his release. A report on the internet says the imam, Syed al-Kareem, saw the engineer on Saturday and confirmed that he was alive.