THE families of three Britons beheaded by Islamic terrorists are hoping that their killer will finally reveal if Osama bin Laden ordered their captives’ murder.

Authorities in Chechnya are questioning one of the kidnappers who had agreed to release the telephone engineers in exchange for a £3 million ransom. Days later in December 1998 the men were murdered and their severed heads left by the side of a road.

Darren Hickey, 26, Rudi Petschi, 42, Peter Kennedy and a New Zealand colleague, Stanley Shaw, 58, had been tortured during their 64 days in captivity.

Russian security officials say that Chechen Interior Ministry police arrested a suspect this week in connection with the murder of six Red Cross workers. The suspect, Adam Dzhabrailov, is said to have admitted his role in the slaughter of the Western engineers, who were installing a mobile phone network in Chechnya.

Officials in Moscow say that Dzhabrailov, 31, is being held at a secret location while he is questioned about the alleged role of al-Qaeda’s leader in the murders. There are claims that bin Laden paid the kidnappers more than £30 million to drive all Western workers out of Chechnya and to intensify their attacks against Russian forces.

Last night Noel Hickey, Hickey’s uncle, said: “There have been so many unanswered questions for so long. At the time the families were told a deal for their release had been agreed. Then the next thing we hear the men were executed in this horrible way. It won’t bring back Darren and the others or end their families’ suffering but I hope that at last we are told the truth — whatever it is.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said last night that it was waiting to learn the outcome of the Russian investigation. “We are in close touch and will keep the families informed,” a spokesman said.

The suspected killer was captured on Monday during a security sweep. Vladimir Kravchenko, Chechnya’s acting Prosecutor-General, said: “Dzhabrailov in his confession told us in detail about the kidnapping and execution of the three Britons and one New Zealander. We will carefully check his testimony about his role in this.”

The UK-based engineers were abducted on October 3, 1998. A captive held with them said that they were given a pitcher of water and a loaf to share each week. They also had to watch videos of beheadings carried out by Islamic militants.

They were apparently beheaded in a disused factory near the capital, Grozny, and their remains driven outside the city. Their bodies were found 100 yards from where the severed heads were dumped in potato sacks.

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