British hostage Ken Bigley has been killed by his captors in Iraq, a Middle East TV Station reported today.
 An editor at Abu Dhabi TV in the United Arab Emirates said the report was based on "informed sources" in Baghdad, but would not comment when asked if a videotape had been received. The station said only that it was confident in its sources and would not say if it had a tape of the killing. There have been past claims about hostages being killed - including Mr Bigley - that could not be substantiated. No postings surfaced immediately on Islamic websites, where such claims often are posted, about the 62-year-old Liverpool engineer being killed following the Abu Dhabi report. Mr Bigley was abducted on September 16 with two Americans from their residence in a smart Baghdad neighbourhood by the militant Tawhid and Jihad group, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, were decapitated. Graphic videos of their murders were posted on the internet, along with videos of Mr Bigley pleading with Prime Minister Tony Blair to save him.
Wave of revulsion
Ken Bigley's execution triggered a wave of revulsion.
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, which sent a delegation to Iraq last month to try and win Mr Bigley's release, said: "We are appalled and profoundly saddened by the cold-blooded murder of Kenneth Bigley after a protracted period of mental torture and anguish.
"We offer our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the family who have gone through the most dreadful experiences.
"Throughout this terrible ordeal, we have kept close contact with the family."
The Council's general secretary Iqbal Sacranie said: "There is absolutely no justification for the killing of this defenceless individual.
"This is a deed which is deeply repugnant and utterly reprehensible.
"We unequivocally condemn it and hope his murderers are brought to justice quickly."
He added the action was "completely and utterly rejected" by the vast majority of the Muslim community.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said it was appalled by Mr Bigley's
killing.
IHRC chairman Massoud Shadjareh said: "We send our deepest condolences to Mr Bigley's family, as we do to the families of all those killed in Iraq as a result of the war and occupation."
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There have been false claims about hostages in Iraq being executed in the past, notably those involving two Italian women who were released last week. A million dollar ransom was allegedly paid for their freedom. On September 25, an internet posting claimed that Mr Bigley had been killed, but the website had been unreliable in the past. The same site carried claims that the two Italian aid workers kidnapped on September 7 - Simona Pari and Simona Torretta - had been killed. They returned to Italy last week. A video shows British hostage Ken Bigley beheaded by his captors in Iraq, a witness who saw the tape said tonight. He said it shows six hooded armed men standing behind the kneeling Bigley, whom the witness recognised from two previous tapes released by the kidnappers. One of the six then spoke in Arabic for about a minute. Then the speaker took a knife from his belt and severed Bigley's head as three others held him down, the witness said. The tape ends with the killer holding up the severed head. Before carrying out the gruesome murder, the killer said they planned to carry out "the sentence of execution against this hostage" because the British government "did not meet our demand" to release Iraqi women detained by the US led command in Iraq. State owned Abu Dhabi TV said it received a tape of Mr Bigley's killing and "made an editorial decision not to show" it. It said the station would not "serve as a mouthpiece for such groups or their actions." | 
