Islamic State claims beheading of journalist, warns US on Iraq strikes
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ISLAMIC State militants posted a video that purported to show the beheading of American journalist James Foley in revenge for US air strikes in Iraq.
The video, titled “A Message To America,” also showed images of another US journalist, Steven Sotloff, whose life Islamic State said depended on how the United States acts in Iraq.
British anti-terrorist police began an investigation into the video, in which Foley’s killer spoke with a London accent.
Apparently a British national, the killer is just one of hundreds of European Muslims drawn to join Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and who authorities say pose a security threat to US and European interests if they return from the Middle East.
The video showed a high level of technical proficiency and the use of a British voice may have been intended to make its contents clear to audiences in the United States, Islamic State’s declared enemy.
The US National Security Council said yesterday that the video is authentic.
British Prime Minister David Cameron interrupted his holiday to return to London to lead the hunt to identify the killer.The video’s message was unambiguous, warning of greater retaliation to come against Americans following nearly two weeks of US air strikes that have pounded militant positions and halted the advance of Islamic State, which until this month had captured a third of Iraq with little resistance.
Foley, 40, was kidnapped on November 22, 2012, in northern Syria. He had earlier been kidnapped and released in Libya.
Sotloff, who appeared at the end of the video, went missing in northern Syria while reporting in July 2013.
On Facebook, Foley’s mother Diane Foley said: “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.”
Islamic State opened the video with a clip of Obama saying he had authorised strikes in Iraq.
The words “Obama authorizes military operations against the Islamic State effectively placing America upon a slippery slope towards a new war front against Muslims” appeared in English and Arabic on the screen.
It showed black and white aerial footage of air strikes with text saying “American aggression against the Islamic State.”
A man identified as Foley, his head shaven and dressed in an orange outfit, is seen kneeling in the desert next to a man standing, holding a knife and clad head to toe in black.
“I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government, for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality,” the kneeling man says.
The man next to him, in a black mask, speaks in a British accent and says, “This is James Wright Foley, an American citizen, of your country. As a government, you have been at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic State.”
“Today your military air force is attacking us daily in Iraq. Your strikes have caused casualties amongst Muslims. You are no longer fighting an insurgency. We are an Islamic army, and a state that has been accepted by a large number of Muslims worldwide.”
Following his statement he beheads the kneeling man.
At the end of the video, words on the side of the screen say, “Steven Joel Sotloff” as another prisoner in an orange jumpsuit is shown on screen. “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the masked man says.
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