Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

REMEMBER KENNETH BIGLEY, A HOSTAGE OF TERRORISM (22 APRIL 1942 TO 7 OCTOBER 2004)



            Ten years ago on this date, 7 October 2004, Kenneth Bigley, a British Civil Engineer, was abducted and illegally executed by terrorists in Iraq. There is some justice served after one of the alleged leaders of the terrorists, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a targeted killing by the US Air Force.

            We offer our condolences to the families of Bigley, and we will remember him every year on this date. We will post information about him from Wikipedia

 

Kenneth Bigley (1942–2004) on his wedding day with his wife, Sombat, in 1998

Kenneth John "Ken" Bigley (22 April 1942 – 7 October 2004) was a British civil engineer who was kidnapped in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 September 2004, along with his colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, both United States citizens. The three men were working for Gulf Supplies and Commercial Services, a Kuwaiti company working on reconstruction projects in Iraq. The men knew their home was being watched and realised they were in grave danger when their Iraqi house guard informed them he was quitting due to being threatened by militias for protecting American and British workers. Bigley and the two Americans decided it was worth the risk and continued to live in the house. All were subsequently decapitated.

On 18 September, the Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Jihad") Islamic extremist group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released a video of the three men kneeling in front of a Tawhid and Jihad banner. The kidnappers said they would kill the men within 48 hours if their demands for the release of Iraqi women prisoners held by coalition forces were not met. Armstrong was killed on 20 September when the deadline expired, Hensley 24 hours later, and Bigley over two weeks later, despite the attempted intervention of the Muslim Council of Britain and the indirect intervention of the British government. Videos of the killings were posted on websites and blogs.




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