An Internet video released on Friday shows an Islamic State fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning, the fourth such killing carried out by the extremist group.
The video mirrored other beheading videos shot by the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and ended with a militant threatening a man they identified as an American named Peter Kassig.
“[US President Barack] Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Sham [Syria], which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people,” a masked militant in the video said.
Photo: AFP
US National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden confirmed that Kassig was held by Islamic State militants.
“At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video... We will continue to use every tool at our disposal — military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence — to try to bring Peter home to his family,” Hayden said in a statement on Friday night.
In a statement, the British Foreign Office said “this is a further disgusting murder.”
“We are offering the family every support possible; they ask to be left alone at this time,” the statement said.
Britain reacted with horror yesterday to the beheading of Henning, who many had hoped might be spared after a cross-community appeal for his release.
British Prime Minister David Cameron led tributes to the 47-year-old taxi driver who went to the region as a volunteer to deliver aid.
“The murder of Alan Henning is absolutely abhorrent, it is senseless, it is completely unforgivable,” Cameron said.
The father of two was a “man of great peace, kindness and gentleness,” he said, adding: “The fact they could murder him in the way they did shows what we are dealing with.”
Speaking after a meeting with intelligence, military and government officials, Cameron vowed to “do everything we can to hunt down and find the people who are responsible for this.”
Henning, from Manchester in northwest England, became the fourth Western hostage murdered by Islamic State militants since August and the second Briton, after aid worker David Haines.
Many friends and family had hoped Henning’s fate would be different after an appeal for his release led by Britain’s Muslim community.
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