ISIS has released a video appearing to show the British terrorist known as “Jihadi John” standing over the severed head of US aid worker Peter Kassig.
Kassig is the one of five US and UK hostages to have been murdered in cold blood in Syria as part of a propaganda initiative by Isis.
The footage also showed what appeared to be the mass beheading of several captured Syrian soldiers.
The British prime minister, David Cameron, said: “These beheadings show once again what a depraved organisation this is,” describing Kassig as a “selfless humanitarian worker”.
Kassig’s parents released a statement asking for their son to be “remembered for his important work” and said they were waiting for the authenticity of the video to be confirmed.
Kassig, a 26-year-old charity worker from Indiana, was taken hostage on 1 October 2013 while on his way to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria as part of his humanitarian work.
He changed his name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig upon converting to Islam in captivity.
Kassig enlisted in the US army in 2004, according to his military records obtained by the Associated Press, and became a ranger.
He was deployed to Iraq in 2007, according to an interview he gave to Time magazine. Kassig was honourably discharged from the army for medical reasons, his family said. He attended Butler University in Indianapolis between 2011 and 2013 to study political science and government, according to his LinkedIn profile.
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