17 November 2014 French and British jihadis in Abdul-Rahman Kassig video Western intelligence officials are trying to identify Islamic State (IS) militants seen in the video that shows the beheading of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig and 18 Syrian prisoners. One of the militants is likely to be a Frenchman named Maxime Hauchard, 22, Frances interior minister says. Another is reportedly a Briton but his father says he is unclear the video shows his son Nasser Muthana, 20. Mr Kassig, 26, is the fifth Western hostage to be killed by IS. IS controls parts of Syria and Iraq. Legacy pledge The IS video shows a masked man standing over a severed head, which the White House confirmed was Mr Kassigs. He was captured by IS in October 2013 while travelling to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria. His parents, Ed and Paula, from Indiana, said in a statement they were heartbroken by his death. We are incredibly proud of our son for living his life according to his humanitarian calling, they said. We will work every day to keep his legacy alive as best we can. The latest IS video also shows the beheading of 18 Syrian captives, who are identified as army officers and pilots. They are said to have been taken from Tabqa air base last August. They are mostly from the Alawite religious sect and come from Latakia and Tartous, according to a Syrian opposition group. the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Unlike previous videos released by IS, the latest shows the faces of many of the militants and specifies its location - Dabiq in Syrias Aleppo province. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the analysis conducted by the French intelligence department concludes that it is highly probable that a French citizen took direct part in committing these horrific crimes. Investigations are ongoing, but it is strongly assumed it could be Maxime Hauchard, born in 1992, originally from the Eure province who had gone to Syria in August 2013, after a stay in Mauritania in 2012. In Britain, Muthanas father, Ahmed, initially said it was his son, but now says the images are blurry and he is not sure. It follows a report by The Daily Mail newspaper where Mr Muthana was quoted saying: It looks like my son. The man believed to be Muthana stands to the right of a suspected British militant nicknamed Jihadi John who is dressed in black with a balaclava, while the rest of the militants wear army fatigues. Jihadi John has been shown in previous IS videos carrying out the beheadings of the other Western hostages: Britons Alan Henning and David Haines, and US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. bbc/news/world-middle-east-30080874
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 13:06:50 +0000
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