Special forces sent to hunt down Bigleys
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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