US President Barack Obama has condemned the killing of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig as an act of pure evil. The Islamic State (IS) militant group released a video showing a masked man standing over a severed head, which the White House confirmed was Mr Kassig. His parents said he died as a result of his love for the Syrian people. Mr Kassig, 26, was taken while working for a refugee group. He is the fifth Western hostage to be killed by IS, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq. The president praised Mr Kassig as a humanitarian and said he was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity. Today we grieve together, yet we also recall that the indomitable spirit of goodness and perseverance that burned so brightly in Abdul-Rahman Kassig, he said. Mr Obamas comments came as he flew back to the US from the G20 summit in Australia. Ed (L) and Paula Kassig listen to a speaker during a prayer vigil for their son in October Ed and Paula Kassig had made clear they did not want their sons death to be manipulated by the militants Mr Kassigs 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. Abdul-Rahman Kassig Peter Kassig fishing with his father, Ed Kassig, near the Cannelton Dam on the Ohio River in Indiana - 2011 A photograph of Abdul-Rahman with his father, Ed, fishing on the Ohio River in Indiana in 2011 Former US Army Ranger who served in Iraq in 2007 Trained as an emergency medical technician and founded an organisation to supply refugee camps in Syria Snatched in October 2013 while travelling in eastern Syria for a project Changed his name from Peter Kassig when he converted to Islam in late 2013 Former soldier and idealist Kassigs emotional letters home line British jihadist The other Western hostages killed by IS were Britons Alan Henning and David Haines, and US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Those killings were carried out by a man believed to be British. That man bears a resemblance to one of the masked militants pictured in the video showing Mr Kassig. Unlike previous videos released by IS, the latest one shows the faces of many of the jihadis and specifies its location - Dabiq in Syrias Aleppo province. It also shows the beheading of 18 Syrian captives, who are identified as army officers and pilots.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:31:37 +0000
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