Militants threaten to kill another if US doesn’t stop airstrikes
Just a day after President Barack Obama announced a long-term offensive against the ISIS after the recent successful airstrikes that helped the Iraqi forces retake the Mosul dam, the militant outfit released a video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley who went missing in Syria about two years ago.
The ISIS has also threatened to kill another American journalist in its custody if Washington did not abandon the military operations against it. Reacting to the grisly video released on Tuesday, the White House, which ordered a verification of its authenticity, said: “If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”
US intelligence officials told media outlets on Wednesday morning that the video appeared to be authentic. President Obama was expected to make a statement on the killing later in the day.
In the video posted online, Foley, in an orange jumpsuit, was shown kneeling next to a masked man dressed in black, holding a knife to his throat, then apparently beginning to cut at the neck. Before the killing, Foley was shown reading a message, apparently scripted by his captors, in which he calls America his “real killer”. The masked executioner shown in the video appeared to speak with a British accent, reports said. Foley’s family separately confirmed the death of the 40-year-old journalist from Rochester, New Hampshire, who was freelancing for the Boston-based Global Post and the AFP wire service. There had been no news of Foley since November 2012, when his car was waylaid by militants in northern Syria. Towards the end of the video, the militants parade another captive, Steven Sotloff, also an American journalist, with the warning that he, too, could be killed. A freelance for Time magazine and some other publications, Sotloff was reported kidnapped near the Syrian-Turkish border in August 2013. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said about 20 journalists have been missing in Syria.
It believes that these journalists are either being held and threatened with death by extremists, or taken captive by gangs seeking ransom. In a statement, Foley’s mother said his son “gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people”. “We have never been prouder of our son Jim,” she said, adding: “We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world.”