London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tursday the death of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a blow to the terror network.
''Today's announcement was very good news because a blow against al-Qaeda in Iraq was a blow against al-Qaeda everywhere,'' Blair told Cabinet members. The prime minister also praised US and coalition troops for their work in Iraq and its new democratically elected government.
Paul Bigley - the brother of Kenneth Bigley, who was kidnapped September 16, 2004, and beheaded - said he believed al-Zarqawi was behind his brother's death.
''I think the world has rid themselves of a very evil person. I think all of his assistants and gofers and people who support him, I hope they meet the same fate,'' he told BBC News 24.
Bigley also complained that his family had not yet received his brother's remains.
''We haven't got Ken's remains back yet,'' he said. ''I would like to take this opportunity to ask Mr. Blair to finally pick up the phone and have one of his people or several of his people ... to go over there and return Ken's remains.''
Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said al-Zarqawi's death would strike a blow to the sectarian violence wracking Iraq, but cautioned that it was too early to term it a turning point for the country.
''Zarqawi does seem to have been a prime mover and encourager of that conflict, so that if he has been taken out of the equation that should be helpful to the Iraqi people as well as to the Iraqi government,'' she said.
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