Relatives in Michigan await word about hostage in Iraq

HILLSDALE, Mich. -- Relatives of a man being held hostage in Iraq waited for word about him Saturday as militants threatened to decapitate him, another American and a Briton unless demands were met within 48 hours.

"This has been a big shock," Frank Armstrong said. He said his brother, Eugene Armstrong, grew up in this south central Michigan community.

Frank Armstrong said the FBI notified him of the abduction last week, but declined to discuss details. The State Department said U.S. officials were working closely with Iraqi authorities to secure the release of the hostages.

The threat against the hostages came in a video purportedly from a militant group linked to al-Qaida that showed Eugene Armstrong, fellow American Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley, the first word of their fate since the three construction workers were abducted from their Baghdad office two days ago.

Hensley's relatives could not be reached for comment. Bigley's family urged his captors to free him on Friday. The 62-year-old Briton is married with one child.

"It's hard to understand why Ken would be targeted in this way, but we would appeal to those who have taken him to please return him safely to us," the family said in a statement.

Minnta Davis, a cousin of Eugene Armstrong, said his work in construction took him around the world and he had been living in Thailand with his wife before traveling to Iraq. Davis said she recognized him in the video, which was rebroadcast on U.S. television.

"We only know what they're showing on television," Davis said. "We don't really know anything. It's kind of hard to say what you don't know. We just know there are just a lot of prayers for him."

In the hostage video, posted on a Web site known for its Islamic militant content, kidnappers purporting to belong to Tawhid and Jihad -- a group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- demanded that Iraqi women detained at two American-controlled prisons here are freed within 48 hours.

or the captives will be beheaded.

A U.S. military official said two women are in U.S. custody.

If their demand is not met, the speaker warned, "by the name of God, these three hostages will get nothing from us except their throats slit and necks chopped, so they will serve as an example."