Khalil Dale: Red Cross urge Pakistani media not to broadcast execution video The Red Cross confirms the death of Khalil Dale, a 60-year-old British aid worker, in Pakistan Link to this video The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is appealing to the Pakistani media not to broadcast a video of the execution of the kidnapped British aid worker Khalil Dale, which his killers have threatened to release. Dale's body was discovered on Sunday, dumped in an orchard in Quetta, the restless southern city where the 60-year-old British nurse had been working as a health programme manager before he was seized by armed men in January. Officials in Quetta said a note had been left with his corpse saying: "This is the body of Khalil who we have slaughtered for not paying a ransom." It also said a video of the moment Dale's throat was cut would soon be released. The ICRC has said it will weigh up the risks and benefits of operating in parts of Pakistan following Dale's murder. A spokesman refused to go into detail about any contacts the ICRC may have had with Dale's abductors to try to free him before his death, but said this should not be taken to mean it had countenanced paying any ransom. As tributes to Dale poured in from colleagues, friends and political leaders, the ICRC's spokesman, Sean Maguire, said it had a policy of not paying ransoms as part of "a consistent and systematic approach that keeps people safe wherever they are." Maguire told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We said that we had some contact with the abductors but we wouldn't want to give succour to future kidnappers by saying we countenanced paying a ransom. Sheila Howat, a friend and former colleague who worked with Dale at Dumfries infirmary, where he was a staff nurse, said: "It's unbelievable what they've done to Ken. The foreign secretary, William Hague, said he learned of the death "with great sadness," adding that tireless efforts had been made over the past months to secure Dale's release. Russell Brown, the Labour MP for Dumfries and Galloway, knew of Dale's work and reputation in the town; Howat is a former Labour regional councillor who served with Brown on the old Dumfries and Galloway regional council. She had asked Brown to intervene on her behalf with the Foreign Office when she first heard Dale had been kidnapped, and liaised with the FCO about his case. Brown said the FCO kept a careful distance from Dale's case to allow the ICRC to develop its own approaches and contact with the kidnappers, to downplay his British links and avoid further political and diplomatic complications about his role in Pakistan. Brown said: "He was well-respected for his work in the health service. I was aware he was working in some of the most troubled areas of the world, where there was the greatest danger for local people. Having worked in the health service it was obvious his heart was in the right place, and he went off to do more difficult work in the field. The guy went out there to work in troubled areas, he went out of the goodness of his heart. And I have to say, he was working in some of the most extreme poverty stricken areas of the world. Not only did they take his life, they seemed to take his life in such a brutal fashion. The guy didn't deserve that; the guy deserved to be back in the field, working with local people. It just doesn't make sense at all. FCO contacts with ICRC were such that the ICRC would lead on this, and they would be working in the background. [The FCO] didn't want to expose Ken to any greater threat [so there were was] not a lot of a political spotlight being brought on his capture, which was understandable - this man was working in the field of humanitarian aid, and should [have been] released. Baluchistan is home to a dangerous mixture of violent groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, separatists militants and criminals. Mohammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, said he thought it most likely that Baluch separatists were responsible for Dale's death, as the Taliban has a record of keeping its captives alive for great lengths of time. "The Baloch nationalists are quite harsh, they have less tolerance and if their demands are not met they react like this," he said. The separatists were often in a hurry for a quick outcome as they did not have the large networks that allowed other groups to safely keep hostages as they negotiated a ransom, Rana said. There are at least four foreigners currently being held in Pakistan. Last August, a 70-year-old American humanitarian aid worker was kidnapped from his house in the Punjabi city of Lahore. Al-Qaida claimed to be holding the man, Warren Weinstein, and said in a video he would be released if the US stopped airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. In March, a pair of Swiss tourists were kidnapped in Baluchistan and held captive for eight months by the Taliban. They later turned up at an army checkpoint claiming to have escaped, although insurgents claimed a large ransom was paid - a claim the Swiss government denied.