IS claims to behead second US reporter
Yahoo7 and Agencies September 3, 2014, 6:01 am
IS claims to behead second US reporter (AU COPY) AP
The Islamic State has released a video showing a masked militant apparently beheading an American journalist and threatening to kill a British captive.
The footage, seen by AFP after it was found online by private terrorism monitor SITE, shows 31-year-old freelance reporter Steven Sotloff dressed in orange and on his knees in a desert landscape.
Islamic State threatened to execute Steven Sotloff in the same video that appeared to show the beheading of US journalist James Foley. Photo: Reuters
The video, shot with the same high production values as its predecessor, is entitled: "A second message to America."
It opens with a clip of Obama vowing to be "relentless" in his determination to protect US citizens from IS attacks.
Sotloff identifies himself in English and calmly explains that he is paying the price for Obama's policy. His killer also speaks in English.
Sotloff poses with two children in Libya in 2013. Photo: Facebook.
The masked militant condemns the ongoing US strikes against the Islamic State - a Sunni jihadist group that operates in Iraq and Syria.
"I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State," the militant says, speaking in what sounds like a London accent.
This was an apparent reference to a previous video in which US journalist James Foley was murdered, again by a suspected British foreign fighter and in an almost identical fashion.
The hooded man with an English accent is believed to be 23-year-old Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, known to fellow Islamic State militants as Jihadi John. Photo: Facebook
"...because of your insistence on continuing your bombings and ... on Mosul Dam, despite our serious warnings," the man said.
"So just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people."
He then cuts Sotloff's throat before introducing another captive, identified in a caption by name as a British citizen.
In a two-sentence statement, family spokesman Barak Barfi said Sotloff's family, "knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the latest video depicted an "absolutely disgusting, despicable act."
The previous video was released last month after US President Barack Obama ordered air strikes against the Islamic State.
It showed 40-year-old Foley's death at the hands of a masked militant who then threatened Sotloff, a Miami-born freelance reporter who has written for Time magazine, Foreign Policy and other outlets.
US officials said they were working to confirm the authenticity of the latest video, and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington would be "sickened" if it proved genuine.
“We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of US citizen Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity," National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.
"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. We will provide more information when it is available.”
Jihadist group the Islamic State claimed to have executed 40-year-old James Foley in revenge for US air strikes against its fighters in Iraq. Photo: Twitter.
A source familiar with the matter said that while US officials have yet to formally confirm the validity of the video, it appeared to be authentic.
Iraq’s outgoing foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari, condemned what he called "this savage killing...an example of savagery and evil.” and said this was evidence of the need for Iraq and the West to defeat the Islamic State.
“We have a common enemy and the whole world is moving in the right direction to stop this savagery and brutality,” Zebari said.
“The whole world is standing united against IS. They must be defeated so these horrid scenes will not be repeated."
An image from a Jihadist website shows Islamic State militants posing with the group's flag in Salahuddin in northern Iraq. Photo: AFP
Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim politician Sami Askari, who is close to outgoing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said: “They are trying to scare the Americans not to intervene. I don’t think Washington will be scared and stop ... This is evil. Every human being has to fight this phenomenon. Like cancer, there is no cure. You have to fight it.”
The Islamic State group which has taken over a third of Syria and Iraq has terrorised rivals and civilians alike with widely publicised brutality as it seeks to expand a proto-state it has carved out on both sides of the border.
In its rise to prominence over the past year, the extremist group has frequently published graphic photos and gruesome videos of everything from bombings and beheadings to mass killings.
American air strikes against IS positions and vehicles continued in the wake of Foley's death, and more than 120 have been carried out, most of them hitting targets around Iraq's largest dam north of Mosul.
US President Barack Obama speaks about the US involvement in Iraq in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. Photo: AFP
A person with ties to the Islamic State in Diyala province said the group had suffered badly in northern Iraq since US air strikes began last month, ahead of the filmed execution of Foley and grisly video of the beheading of a Kurdish soldier.
“The defeat of the Islamic State in the battle of Mosul Dam contributed to a deflating of the morale of its fighters and the American strikes have also succeeded in restricting their field operations," the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
"The initiative is not with Islamic State anymore, it’s with their enemy now."
The United States is taking the Islamic State insurgents far more seriously now than it did six months ago, when Obama told the New Yorker magazine that they were the "JV team," which is short for "junior varsity" and means they are not the best players on the field.
Sotloff's mother had pleaded for his release last week in a video directed at the Islamic State group.
Sotloff was kidnapped in northern Syria more than a year ago, on August 4, 2013. His family only publicly revealed his captivity last month, having previously requested a media blackout.
Addressing the leader of the Islamic State group by name, Shirley Sotloff said in a video her son was "an innocent journalist" who shouldn't pay for U.S. government actions in the Middle East over which he has no control.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he wasn't immediately aware of the purported Sotloff video and wasn't in a position to confirm its authenticity.
"This is something that the administration has obviously been watching very carefully," Earnest said. "Our thoughts and prayers first and foremost are with Mr. Sotloff and Mr. Sotloff's family and those who worked with him."
A man who answered a phone listed in the name of Sotloff's sister hung up when called by the AP.
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