IS captures Jordanian pilot after warplane crashes in Syria
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 25 December, 2014, 2:59am
UPDATED : Thursday, 25 December, 2014, 5:10am
Agence France-Presse
Islamic State group militants captured a Jordanian pilot after shooting down his warplane while conducting airstrikes over Syria. Photo: AP
The Islamic State group captured a Jordanian pilot Wednesday after his warplane from the US-led coalition crashed while on a mission against the jihadists over Syria.
A senior Jordanian military official said the pilot was taken hostage by the "IS terrorist organisation" in its northern stronghold region of Raqa.
Both the jihadists and activists reporting to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.
But the US military dismissed the claim, saying "evidence clearly suggests that ISIL did not down the aircraft", using another name for IS.
US Central Command, the body overseeing the coalition air war over Iraq and Syria, gave no reason for the "crash", and confirmed IS militants had taken the lost jet's Jordanian pilot captive.
Jordan's military confirmed that one of its pilots was captured by the IS group after his plane went down in Syria. Photo: AFP
The crash was the first coalition warplane lost since air strikes on IS began in Syria in September, and marks a major propaganda victory for the Sunni extremist group.
Coalition warplanes have carried out regular strikes around Raqa, which IS has used as its de facto capital since declaring a "caliphate" in June straddling large parts of Iraq and Syria.
IS posted photographs online purportedly showing its fighters holding the pilot.
One showed a man being carried from a body of water by four gunmen. Another showed the same man on land, surrounded by almost a dozen militants.
A photograph was also released of the pilot's military identification card, showing his name as Maaz al-Kassasbeh, his birth date as May 29, 1988, and his rank of first lieutenant.
The jihadists claimed to have shot down the warplane with a heat-seeking missile.
Images distributed by IS supporters of the alleged aftermath of the crash appeared to show the distinctive canopy of an F-16 fighter jet.
