Pat Dollard | Young Americans

This is an unfortunate, yet significant event in the War On Terror for a number of reasons. For starters, it is hot on the heels of Osama Bin Laden’s latest spoken threat. Another and more chilling idea is this: Take into consideration that as of late, beheadings have all but stopped in the Middle East (You know, bad PR and all). Paired with Bin Laden’s resurgance, could this be the warning shot of a resurgent broader campaign?

The New York Times: LONDON — An Al Qaeda affiliate in North Africa said on Wednesday that it had killed a Briton it abducted in Mali last January.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was “strong reason to believe” that the captive had been executed. He called the killing “barbaric.”

The Briton, identified as Edwin Dyer, was taken hostage on January 22 along with a Swiss citizen and two other tourists in Niger, close to the border with Mali, but was held in Mali.

The group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, had demanded the release of Abu Qatada, a Jordanian-born Palestinian cleric held in Britain whom a Spanish judge has called the leading Al Qaeda lieutenant in Europe. Britain has said he is a “significant international terrorist” but he has denied belonging to Al Qaeda.

On Wednesday, the group announced on an Islamist Web site that it killed the Briton on May 31, one day after the expiration of its second deadline for its demand to be met.

The password-protected Web site, called Al Falojah, carried a two-page message in Arabic saying the British authorities had been given time to negotiate Mr. Dyer’s release but had shown indifference to his fate.

“The British captive was killed so that he, and with him the British state, may taste a tiny portion of what innocent Muslims taste every day at the hands of the Crusader and Jewish coalition to the east and to the west of the world,” the statement said. It did not say how or where Mr. Dyer was killed.

In a statement, Prime Minister Brown said: “This tragedy reinforces our commitment to confront terrorism. It strengthens our determination never to concede to the demands of terrorists, nor to pay ransoms.”

“I want those who would use terror against British citizens to know beyond doubt that we and our allies will pursue them relentlessly, and that they will meet the justice they deserve.”

The BBC said Britain had refused to pay a ransom.

Britain is seeking to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan, but a British judge has ruled that he would not face a fair trial there. Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Othman, has been convicted in Jordan of terrorism offenses in his absence and faces a life sentence.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Canadian diplomats and four European tourists in the past five months. The two diplomats and two of the tourists were freed in Mali in April, Reuters reported.

Last month, Algerian media reported the group was demanding $14 million to release Mr. Dyer and the Swiss national.

Mr. Dyer had been working in Austria and spoke fluent German, according to British news reports. He was in West Africa on a tour organized by a German travel operator and was abducted after attending a cultural festival at Anderamboukane in Mali.

At first it was believed that the abductors were Tuareg rebels, who have regularly clashed with Mali’s army, but in February the Al Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility.

In mid-April, Mr. Dyer’s captors issued an initial demand for the release of Abu Qatada within 20 days. The deadline was then extended by 15 days to May 30, British news reports said.

SKY News: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned the apparent “barbaric” killing of a British hostage held in the Sahara by an al Qaeda cell.

Tourist Edwin Dyer was captured on the border between Niger and Mali and held hostage for more than four months before claims of his murder emerged.

The Briton and three tourists - two Swiss citizens and a German woman also taken hostage - were returning from a music festival, near Timbuktu, on January 22.

Terror group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrebsaid (AQIM) said on a website it had killed Mr Dyer and that disbelievers would be “smitten in the neck”.

A London newspaper reported that the hostage had been beheaded.

“We have strong reason to believe that a British citizen, Edwin Dyer, has been murdered by an al Qaeda cell in Mali,” Mr Brown said in a statement.

“I utterly condemn this appalling and barbaric act of terrorism.”

AQIM had said it would kill Mr Dyer if the British government did not release Abu Qatada, a Jordanian Islamist in jail in the UK.

The cell, on the website used by al Qaeda-linked groups, now says the killing was carried out on May 31 after a second deadline for meeting its demands expired.

“The British captive was killed so that he, and with him the British state, may taste a tiny portion of what innocent Muslims taste every day at the hands of the Crusader and Jewish coalition to the east and to the west,” the statement went on.

“Let Gordon Brown and his aggressor government reap the fruits of their thoughtless policies towards Muslims.”

Mr Brown said: “I want those who would use terror against British citizens to know beyond doubt that we and our allies will pursue them relentlessly.”

“I have regularly discussed this case with the president of Mali - he knows that he will have every support in rooting out al Qaeda from his country.”

Qatada was named by a Spanish judge as the right-hand man in Europe of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network.

The cleric has been held in Britain since 2005. He denies belonging to the group.

Britain has described him as a “significant international terrorist” but said it does not have enough evidence to put him on trial.

It wants to deport him on grounds of national security, but Appeal Court judges ruled last year he would not face a fair trial in Jordan.