As the Islamic State continues unleashing terror and barbarism in Iraq and Syria, there is growing outrage and horror at the emergence of a video that reportedly shows the beheading of a US journalist James Foley.
The US is yet to confirm the genuineness of the video, however British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said that the video appeared to be genuine, said reports.
“All the hallmarks point to it being genuine,” Hammond told the BBC Radio.
In further highlights the wide reach of the IS that has managed to get Austalians, Americans, and also UK citizens as the members of its jihadist group, the reports suggest that the masked executioner in the video has a British accent and may be a British.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also said that the executioner in the beheading video appeared to be British and the UK was in the process of verifying his background.
“On the face of it, it appears to have been a British person. We’ll have to do some more analysis to make quite certain that that is the case,” Hammond told the BBC.
Speaking to the BBC Radio, Hammond expressed horror at the brutality of the extremists saying, his reaction was “Horror, absolute horror at what appears to be a brutal execution…. It just is one more example in a catalogue of brutality by this organization”.
Hammond underscored how the increasing number of Britons in Iraq would pose a “direct threat to our own national security” if they seek to return with “the tradecraft that they’ve learned working with these terrorist organizations”.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who cut short his holiday trip to hold meetings on Iraq and Syria post the beheading video release said in a tweet that the murder of James Foley if confirmed, was “shockig and depraved”.
The jihadist group – Islamic State, that has established a Caliphate across the captured areas of Iraq and Syria, posted a video purportedly showing the execution of American journalist James Foley and threatened to kill another US journalist unless the United States gets out of Iraq.
The nearly five-minute video titled “A Message to America” showed a masked militant who speaks English with a British accent beheading a man resembling Foley. The freelance photo journalist been missing since he was captured by the militants in the northern Syrian province of Idlib on November 22, 2012.
In the grisly video, Foley is seen donning an orange outfit, kneeling on the ground.
The terrorists have issued a warning to America saying they will be drowned in blood in retaliation to President Barack Obama’s decision to order air strikes against IS (also known as ISIS) militants in Iraq two weeks ago.
