BAGHDAD/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State insurgents released a video on Tuesday purportedly showing the beheading of U.S. journalist James Foley, who had gone missing in Syria nearly two years ago, and images of another U.S. journalist whose life they said depended on U.S. action in Iraq.
The video, titled "A Message To
America," was posted on social media sites. It was not immediately
possible to verify its authenticity.
Foley,
who has reported in the Middle East for five years, was kidnapped on
Nov. 22, 2012, by unidentified gunmen. Steven Sotloff, who appeared at
the end of the video, went missing in northern Syria while he was
reporting in July 2013.
A Twitter account set up by his
family to help find him said early on Wednesday: "We know that many of
you are looking for confirmation or answers. Please be patient until we
all have more information, and keep the Foleys in your thoughts and
prayers."
The White House said that U.S. intelligence agents were working to verify the authenticity of a video.
The
Islamic State had not previously executed American citizens publicly.
The video was posted after the United States resumed air strikes in Iraq
for the first time since the end of the U.S. occupation in 2011.
Foley's beheading video came from Furqan Media, which is the official outlet for #ISIS. Twitter suspended account.
The Sunni militant group has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria in areas it controls.
The video opened with a clip of U.S. President Barack Obama saying he had authorized strikes in Iraq.
"Obama
authorizes military operations against the Islamic State effectively
placing America upon a slippery slope towards a new war front against
Muslims," words appear in English and Arabic on the screen.
It showed black and white aerial footage of air strikes with text saying "American aggression against the Islamic State"
A person identified as
James Foley and wearing an orange outfit is seen kneeling in the desert
as a man in black dress with a black mask stands beside him, holding a
knife.
"I call on my friends family and
loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the U.S. government, for
what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and
criminality," the kneeling man says.
The
man in the mask speaks in a British accent and says: "This is James
Wright Foley, an American citizen, of your country. As a government, you
have been at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic
State."
"Today your military
air force is attacking us daily in Iraq. Your strikes have caused
casualties amongst Muslims. You are no longer fighting an insurgency. We
are an Islamic army, and a state that has been accepted by a large
number of Muslims worldwide."
Following his statement he beheads the kneeling man.
At the end of the video, words
on the side of the screen say "Steven Joel Sotloff" as another prisoner
in an orange jumpsuit is shown on screen.
"The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision," the masked man says.
Foley,
a freelance reporter, had been covering Syria’s civil war for
GlobalPost. In 2011, he was held for 45 days by forces loyal to former
Libyan leader Muammar Gadaafi.
Sotloff
is also a freelancer journalist with published stories in Time Magazine
and Foreign Policy. He has worked in Syria, Libya and Yemen.
MORE THREATS
White
House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said: "We have seen a video that
purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen James Foley by ISIL. The
intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine
its authenticity.
"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."
Islamic State also
released another video on Tuesday that gave the strongest indication yet
it might attempt to strike American targets.
The video with the theme "breaking of the American cross" boasts
Islamic State will emerge victorious over "crusader" America.
It
follows a video posted on Monday, warning of attacks on American
targets if Washington struck against its fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The latest footage spoke of a holy war between the al-Qaeda offshoot
and the United States, which occupied Iraq for nearly a decade and faced
stiff resistance from al-Qaeda.
Islamic State's sweep through
northern Iraq, bringing it close to Baghdad and in control of the second
city, Mosul, drew U.S. air strikes on the country for the first time
since the end of the American occupation in 2011.
U.S.
air strikes have helped Kurdish peshmerga fighters who held parts of
the north regain some territory captured by the Sunni militants.
Unlike al-Qaeda, Islamic State has so far focused on territorial gains
designed to eventually establish a full-blown Islamic empire.
Tuesday's video shows an American soldier crying over the death of a
comrade as the Christian hymn Amazing Grace can be heard.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz in Baghdad and Oliver Holmes in Beirut; Editing by Chris Reese, Ken Wills and Andrew Hay)
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