Brother of British hostage hopeful for his release

LONDON (AFP) — The brother of Ken Bigley, the British hostage held in Iraq, said he was increasingly hopeful the engineer would be released soon and that he was ready to travel to the Middle East at a moment's notice.

Paul Bigley, interviewed by telephone at his home in Amsterdam, told AFP that he strongly believed his brother Ken had been handed over "to a more moderate gang, but I don't know who they are".

Bigley, 62, and two American colleagues were kidnapped 18 days ago by the Tawhid wal Jihad group (Unity and Holy War) led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, suspected of links to al-Qaeda. The two Americans were beheaded.

Following unconfirmed reports Saturday in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam that Zarqawi had handed Bigley over to another group likely to demand a ransom, Paul Bigley has said his family would pay to get his ...