Outrage at beheading

21 August 2014 - 02:03 By AFP, staff reporter
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
DEATH FROM THE DARK AGES:An Islamic State terrorist about to kill a man purported to be US photojournalist James Foley in this grab from an undated and unverified video posted on a social media website. The video was titled 'Message to America'
DEATH FROM THE DARK AGES:An Islamic State terrorist about to kill a man purported to be US photojournalist James Foley in this grab from an undated and unverified video posted on a social media website. The video was titled 'Message to America'

The apparent beheading by jihadists of a US journalist sparked worldwide revulsion yesterday and drew promises by outraged Western governments that they would help those fighting the terrorists.

In a video posted online on Tuesday, a masked Islamic State militant is shown beheading a man resembling James Foley, 40, who has been missing since being abducted in Syria in November 2012.

In the nearly five-minute video, titled "A Message to America", Islamic State declares that Foley was killed because US President Barack Obama had ordered air strikes against IS in northern Iraq.

The beheading, in either Iraq or Syria, is committed by a man who speaks in English with an obvious British accent.

According to Britain's Daily Mail, the clip shows Foley reciting ''a pre-prepared script" denouncing his home country and saying the US government is responsible for his death.

"Any aggression towards the Islamic State is an aggression towards Muslims from all walks of life who have accepted the Islamic caliphate as their leadership," the masked killer declares.

He threatens to kill another man shown in the video and said to be Steven Sotloff, a US journalist kidnapped in August 2013.

The video was released as US air strikes helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces push IS fighters back from some recently conquered areas in northern Iraq, including the strategic Mosul dam.

European nations swiftly condemned the jihadists, with France warning that the world faced the "most serious international situation" since 2001.

British Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his holiday and rushed back to London, calling an urgent meeting to discuss how to deal with IS amid speculation that the journalist's executioner is a Briton.

Germany said it was ready to send weapons to the Iraqi Kurds fighting IS, and France said it would convene a conference on bringing security to the region and how best to carry forward the battle against the "barbaric" Islamic militants.

US National Security Council spokesman Caitlin Hayden said: "If [the video is] genuine we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends."

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now