KIDNAPPED aid worker Margaret Hassan was last night shown on a new videotape pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Her plea came on the day British soldiers moved towards Iraq's "triangle of death" to take the place of US marines preparing for an assault on the city of Fallujah.

Troops from the Scottish regiment the Black Watch began pulling out of their base in the south of the country and headed towards the more dangerous areas around the country's capital.

The tape, broadcast on Arab TV network Al-Jazeera, also showed Mrs Hassan demanding the release of all female prisoners in Iraq and for her organisation, Care International, to close its offices in the country.

The Foreign Office and Care International were last night checking the reports.

Care International spokes-man Arnoud Hekkens, in Jordan, said: "We are seeking confirmation of this."

Mrs Hassan has dual British and Iraqi nationality but was born in Ireland.

She has lived in Iraq for 30 years and heads Care's operations in the country. She was seized by gunmen on her way to work in western Baghdad on October 19.

Hours after the kidnapping, video footage of the 59-year-old, her hands bound behind her back and looking distressed, was shown on Al-Jazeera.

On October 22, Al-Jazeera aired another video of her weeping and pleading for the British people to save her life, saying she did not want to die like hostage Ken Bigley, the Liverpool engineer who was beheaded by his captors.

The group which abducted Mrs Hassan has not been identified.

The Foreign Office said efforts were ongoing to discover who was holding her, but has denied the Government has sought the assistance of an intermediary thought to have previously made contact with the killers of Mr Bigley.

Mrs Hassan, who is a Muslim and married to an Iraqi, has been the subject of a wave of sympathy across the Islamic world, with many websites filled with messages deploring her kidnapping.

Her request that all female prisoners in Iraq be released has haunting echoes of the demands made by Mr Bigley.

The Briton was kidnapped along with two Americans - Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong - on September 16 by the Muslim extremist group Tawhid and Jihad, now known as al Qaida in Iraq.

Two days later, the trio were shown blindfolded. The captors threatened to kill them within 48 hours if their demand to release female prisoners held at the Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr jails was not met. When the deadline on September 20 ran out, Mr Armstrong was beheaded, followed by Mr Hensley hours later. Mr Bigley was killed earlier this month.

Mrs Hassan said in the latest video: "Please don't bring the soldiers to Baghdad. Please, on top of that, please release the women prisoners from prisons."

The hostage, who wore a black T-shirt, spoke directly into the camera, blinking back tears.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We will consider very carefully what response, if any, to make to this latest video."