An Internet video released Friday purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning and threatening yet another American captive, the fourth such killing carried out by the extremist group now targeted in U.S.-led airstrikes.
The video mirrored other beheading videos shot by the Islamic State group, which now holds territory along the border of Syria and Iraq. It ended with an Islamic State fighter threatening a man they identified as an American named Peter Kassig.
“Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Shams (Syria), which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the neck of your people,” the masked militant said.
Henning, 47, nicknamed “Gadget,” had joined an aid convoy and was taken captive on Dec. 26, shortly after crossing the border between Turkey and Syria. Earlier this week, Henning’s wife Barbara Henning asked the militants in a televised plea: “Please release him. We need him back home.”
The video ended with a member of ISIS standing next to another captive — an American aid worker named Peter Kassig. Like ISIS' other Western victims, Kassig has devoted his life to helping Syrian civilians. In January 2013, then only 24 years old and volunteering at a Lebanese hospital for Syrian refugees, Kassig founded an aid organization called Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA) dedicated to bringing Syrian refugees clothing, medical supplies, and food
The video ended with a member of ISIS standing next to another captive — an American aid worker named Peter Kassig. Like ISIS' other Western victims, Kassig has devoted his life to helping Syrian civilians. In January 2013, then only 24 years old and volunteering at a Lebanese hospital for Syrian refugees, Kassig founded an aid organization called Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA) dedicated to bringing Syrian refugees clothing, medical supplies, and food