Bigley 'with new group'

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.