BAGHDAD, Nov 4: The fate of kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan hung in the balance on Thursday as a deadline approached to hand her over to a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi unless British troops left Iraq.

The captors of the British-Irish woman threatened on Tuesday to deliver her to Iraq's most ruthless band of kidnappers, who have already beheaded a string of foreigners, unless their demands were met in 48 hours.

Britain has made no public response to the threat, which came as hundreds of British soldiers settled into a new base outside Baghdad on a US-requested mission to free up US soldiers for an anticipated assault on other hotspots.

Ms Hassan, the head of leading charity CARE International in Iraq, is one of the highest-profile victims in a scourge of kidnappings.

The 59-year-old, who has spent 30 years in Iraq and is married to an Iraqi, has appeared in three videos since her abduction on October 19.

Her condition has deteriorated with each viewing and Arabic television network Al Jazeera opted against airing much of the most recent images on Tuesday due to the "condition of the hostage".

In the video, the kidnappers pledged to turn Ms Hassan over to Zarqawi unless Britain pulled its 8,500 troops out of Iraq.-AFP