Connect with us

Breaking

Islamic State group beheads US aid worker

Published

on

peter-kassig

US aid worker Peter Kassig

BEIRUT — An Islamic State group video released Sunday purports to show extremists beheading a dozen Syrian soldiers and ends with a militant claiming to have killed U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig, the latest slaughter proudly broadcast by the group on the Internet.

The video ends with the militant standing over a severed head he says belongs to Kassig. U.S. officials said they were working to determine the video’s authenticity. Kassig’s family said it was awaiting the outcome of the investigation.

“We prefer our son is written about and remembered for his important work and the love he shared with friends and family, not in the manner the hostage takers would use to manipulate Americans and further their cause,” the family said in a statement.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage, though it appeared on websites used in the past by the Islamic State group, which now controls a third of Syria and Iraq.

The video identifies the militants’ location as Dabiq, a town in northern Syria that the militant group uses as the title of its English-language propaganda magazine and where they believe an apocalyptic battle between Muslims and their enemies will occur.

The high-definition video shows the beheadings of about a dozen men identified as Syrian military officers and pilots, all dressed in blue jumpsuits. The main militant in the video who speaks to the camera has a British accent and warns that U.S. soldiers will meet a similar fate.

“We say to you, Obama: … You claim to have withdrawn from Iraq four years ago,” the militant said. “Here you are: You have not withdrawn. Rather, you hid some of your forces behind your proxies.” A U.S.-led coalition is targeting the Islamic State group in airstrikes, supporting Western-backed Syrian rebels, Kurdish fighters and the Iraqi military.

The militant’s voice is distorted in the video. Previous videos featured a militant with a British accent that the FBI says it has identified, though it hasn’t named him publicly.

Later, the militant claims Kassig, 26, was killed because he “fought against the Muslims in Iraq while serving as a soldier.” Kassig, from Indianapolis, Indiana, served in the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, a special operations unit, and deployed to Iraq in 2007.

After being medically discharged, Kassig formed the aid organization Special Emergency Response and Assistance, or SERA, in Turkey to aid Syrian refugees. He delivered food and medical supplies and provided trauma care to wounded Syrian civilians before being captured in eastern Syria last year. Friends say he converted to Islam in captivity and took the first name Abdul-Rahman.

Burhan Agha, a Syrian friend who worked with Kassig in Lebanon and who moved to Switzerland seeking asylum, wept when recounting his generosity Sunday.

“If I could apologize to each American, one by one, I would, because Peter died in Syria, while he was helping the Syrian people,” Agha told the AP by telephone. “Those who killed him claimed to have done it in the name of Islam. I am a Muslim and am from Syria. … (His killers) are not Muslims.”

The White House said the U.S. intelligence community was examining the video. National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said that if the video is authentic, the White House would be “appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American.” British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “horrified by the cold-blooded murder,” saying that the Islamic State group has “again shown their depravity.

online pharmacy buy doxycycline with best prices today in the USA

Previous videos have shown the beheading of two American journalists and two British aid workers. The latest video did not show the person identified as Kassig being beheaded. Unlike previous videos, it did not show other Western captives or directly threaten to behead anyone else. It also had lingering close-ups on some miltiants’ exposed faces, with a few appearing to be foreigners.

The Islamic State group holds British photojournalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in several videos delivering statements for the group, likely under duress. They also hold a 26-year-old American woman captured last year in Syria while working for aid groups. U.S. officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.

The Islamic State group has beheaded and shot dead hundreds of captives – mainly Syrian and Iraqi soldiers – during its sweep across the two countries, and has celebrated its mass killings in extremely graphic videos.

The group has declared a self-styled Islamic caliphate in the areas under its control, which it governs according to its violent interpretation of Shariah law.

online pharmacy buy kamagra oral jelly with best prices today in the USA

On Sunday, the Islamic State group claimed a bombing at the Baghdad International Airport that wounded five people, saying it was trying to strike Americans there. No one was wounded in a passing United Nations convoy, the organization said.

The Islamic State group has its roots in al-Qaida’s Iraqi affiliate but was expelled from the global terror network over its brutal tactics and refusal to obey orders to confine its activities to Iraq. It became even more extreme amid the bloody civil war in neighboring Syria and grew strong enough to launch a lightning offensive across Iraq.

Syria’s war began as an uprising against President Bashar Assad. Activists say that conflict has killed more than 200,000 people.

Associated Press writers Julie Pace in Brisbane, Australia, David Aguilar in Detroit, Jon Gambrell in Cairo and Vivian Salama in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Maria in Vancouver

Lifestyle6 days ago

Upgrade Your Life in 2025

It’s a brand new year and a wonderful opportunity to become a brand new you! The word upgrade can mean...

Maria in Vancouver3 weeks ago

Fantabulous Christmas Party Ideas

It’s that special and merry time of the year when you get to have a wonderful excuse to celebrate amongst...

Lifestyle1 month ago

How To Do Christmas & Hanukkah This Year

Christmas 2024 is literally just around the corner! Here in Vancouver, we just finished celebrating Taylor Swift’s last leg of...

Lifestyle2 months ago

Nobody Wants This…IRL (In Real Life)

Just like everyone else who’s binged on Netflix series, “Nobody Wants This” — a romcom about a newly single rabbi...

Lifestyle2 months ago

Family Estrangement: Why It’s Okay

Family estrangement is the absence of a previously long-standing relationship between family members via emotional or physical distancing to the...

Lifestyle4 months ago

Becoming Your Best Version

By Matter Laurel-Zalko As a woman, I’m constantly evolving. I’m constantly changing towards my better version each year. Actually, I’m...

Lifestyle4 months ago

The True Power of Manifestation

I truly believe in the power of our imagination and that what we believe in our lives is an actual...

Maria in Vancouver5 months ago

DECORATE YOUR HOME 101

By Matte Laurel-Zalko Our home interiors are an insight into our brains and our hearts. It is our own collaboration...

Maria in Vancouver5 months ago

Guide to Planning a Wedding in 2 Months

By Matte Laurel-Zalko Are you recently engaged and find yourself in a bit of a pickle because you and your...

Maria in Vancouver6 months ago

Staying Cool and Stylish this Summer

By Matte Laurel-Zalko I couldn’t agree more when the great late Ella Fitzgerald sang “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.”...