Islamic militants in Iraq have beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley, who was kidnapped in Baghdad last month.
The family of the 62-year-old British engineer has confirmed reports of his murder, while a video showing his beheading was released Friday.
The militants had demanded that U.S.-led forces free women prisoners from Iraqi jails. The kidnappers also abducted two Americans, who were beheaded last month.
Separately, a U.S. airstrike on a suspected safehouse in Fallujah used by terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed at least 12 people and wounded 17 others.
Elsewhere, insurgents blew up the Iraqi Red Crescent building in the western city of Ramadi, and a U.S. soldier was killed in combat south of Kirkuk. Another American serviceman died of wounds sustained in an explosion in Baghdad earlier this month.