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Islamic State Militants 'Kill Reporter On Video'

August 19, 2014
by RFE/RL

The Islamic State militant group has released a video purportedly showing the beheading of a American journalist.

The video, titled 'A Message To America,' was posted on social media sites on August 19.

The victim was identified by the militants as James Foley, a freelancer who was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012.

In the five-minute video, a masked militant who speaks with a British accent says Foley was killed in revenge for recent U.S. air strikes against IS positions in northern Iraq.

The footage also shows a second captive alive, identified by the militants as U.S. reporter Steven Sotloff, who went missing in Syria in summer 2013.

The authenticity of the video has not been independently verified.

Foley's family wrote on Facebook: 'We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people."

'We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages,' it added.

The White House said U.S. intelligence was studying the footage.

If it was genuine, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said, the United States would be 'appalled by the brutal murder.'

The Islamic State, a militant group that seeks hard-line rule under an Islamic caliphate, has seized large swaths of territory in both Iraq and Syria.

The militants have been accused of massacring hundreds of people in areas under their control.

They have persecuted non-Muslims such as Yazidis and Christians, as well as Shi'ite Muslims.

The group's recent advances in northern Iraq have prompted the United States to launch air strikes in the Middle Eastern nation for the first time since its withdrawal 2011.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/islamic-state- claims-beheading-of-us-journalist/26540018.html

Copyright (c) 2014. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.