An Islamic website posted a statement on Saturday claiming that British Kenneth Bigley held hostage in Iraq has been killed by his kidnappers.

"Tawhid and Jihad announces it has executed the British hostage and also kidnapped seven British soldiers," said the statement.

The British authority in Iraq had no word on the announcement.

No video footage followed the brief posting as in previous cases, but it said it would provide one soon.

Bigley, a 62-year-old engineer, was abducted by gunmen last Thursday in Baghdad's Mansour district, together with two Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley.

On Monday, a website thought to be linked to Tawhid and Jihad, which is led by al Qaida ally Abu Musab al Zarqawi, featured a video showing Armstrong being beheaded. The website claimed Tuesday that militants had also decapitated Hensley.

A statement attributed to Tawhid and Jihad said it would executed the hostages unless women prisoners held in Iraq's Abu Ghuraib prison and Um Qasser detention center were released, a request that has been rejected by the United States.

Bigley appeared in a videotape Wednesday asking British Prime Minister Tony Blair to help rescue him. His family also made appeals to the kidnappers to spare his life.

Meanwhile, a group of prominent British Muslims arrived in Kuwait on Saturday en route to Baghdad to help secure the release of Bigley.