World

Italy Awaits Word On Hostages

September 23, 2004 / 7:19 AM EDT / CBS/AP

An Islamic militant group claimed in a Web posting Thursday that two Italian women taken hostage in Iraq have been killed, a day after another group made a similar statement.

Neither claim has been confirmed, by the Italian government or any other source.

The Italian government on Thursday urged "maximum caution" in assessing the claims that the women have been killed. The Italian government also suggested the communiques could be part of a terrorism campaign through the media.

The new posting about the purported beheadings of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta appeared on a little-known Web site and was signed by a group calling itself the Supporters of al-Zawahri. That group's name refers to Ayman al-Zawahri, a deputy of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

That same group was the first to claim responsibility for the Sept. 7 capture of the two women, but the statement was somewhat suspicious because it gave reasons for their killing that were not among its initial demands.

A second militant group, the Islamic Jihad Organization in Iraq, also claimed to be holding the two women. On Wednesday, a purported statement from the Jihad Organization had said the two aid workers had been killed. But Italian state television reported Thursday that Foreign Ministry officials had described the Web site where it appeared as "not very reliable."

The latest statement promised that video of the slayings will be released.

"The heads of the two criminal agents of Italian intelligence, Simona Pari and Simona Toretta have been chopped off by knife without pity or mercy," said the claim. "The video of cutting off the heads of the two Italian hostages will be issued soon."

Pari and Torretta, both 29, were seized from their Baghdad offices by armed militants on Sept. 7. They worked for "Un Ponte Per ..." ("A Bridge to ...") and were involved in school and water projects in Iraq.

The Italian Foreign Ministry said it did not have any immediate comment on the latest claim.

It came just hours after a blindfolded British hostage appeared on a terrorist-released video, appealing to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to save his life by meeting terrorist demands to free all female Iraqi prisoners.

Kenneth Bigley started with the phrase: "To Mr. Blair, my name is Ken Bigley, from Liverpool."

"I think this is possibly my last chance," he said. "Please help me see my wife, and my son and my mother. I don't want to die. I don't deserve it."

"Mr. Blair, I am nothing to you," said Bigley. "Please, you can help. I know you can," he said.

Kenneth Bigley, 62, and two American hostages working for a construction company were kidnapped in Baghdad last week. Tawhid and Jihad, the militant group of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it kidnapped the three and threatened to kill them within 48 hours unless all Iraqi women prisoners held in Iraq were released.

The two Americans, Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, were later killed, and their decapitated bodies have been found.

British officials have made it clear they will not negotiate with the kidnappers.

In London, Bigley's brother, Paul, is blaming the U.S. for sabotaging a prisoner release he had hoped would save his brother's life.

There were reports Wednesday that Iraqi authorities intended to release Rihab Rashid Taha, a female scientist who became known as "Dr. Germ" for allegedly helping Iraq make weapons with anthrax.

But before the day was over, a U.S. embassy spokesman ruled out any immediate release of Taha.

She is being held along with another notorious female prisoner: Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a biotech researcher known as "Mrs. Anthrax."

In other developments:

The U.S. launched "Operation Iron Fury," a massive campaign to control insurgents in Iraq, reports CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen. It began with attacks in Sadr City, but in weeks to come the U.S. could hit disputed cities it wants under control before elections planned in Iraq for January.

A U.S. Army soldier was killed on Wednesday when he stepped out of his vehicle to investigate a roadside bomb and it exploded, said Maj. Neal O'Brien, spokesman for the Army's 1st Infantry Division. At least 1,034 U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq.

The U.S. military charged two U.S. soldiers for the deaths of three Iraqis, the U.S. command said Wednesday.

A car bomb killed six people and injured 54 others in Baghdad near where Iraqi National Guard applicants were gathered.

U.S. and Iraqi forces clashed with rebels loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad's Sadr City. Ten people were reported killed.

Turkey's transportation minister urged Turkish truckers to use routes through Syria for shipments to Iraq following a surge of kidnappings and attacks targeting Turkish drivers.

Five unidentified bodies were found in a communal grave in an area west of Baghdad, residents said.

Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani - criticized a raid on al-Sadr's office, charging that it violated a peace deal reached last month. Sistani is also concerned about the elections planned for January. According to sources quoted by the Washington Post, he is threatening to withdraw his support for the elections unless changes are made to increase the representation of Shiites. Reportedly, the concern is that larger parties may form a single ticket, effectively shutting out the participation of smaller parties.

The spiritual leader of the most active insurgency group in Iraq, Tawhid and Jihad, has been reported killed in a U.S. airstrike.

Portugal said it might make a new contribution to building up Iraq's security forces, an exception to a generally muted international response to President Bush's defense of the Iraq war and an appeal for help in rebuilding the country.

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