Video reportedly shows beheading of reporter Steven Sotloff by ISIS
DEVELOPING: An Internet video purports to show the beheading of US reporter Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State extremist group.
The global terror intelligence firm SITE first reported the release of the 2-minute video, titled "A Second Message to America," in which Sotloff, a 31-year-old freelance journalist, speaks to the camera before a cloaked Islamic State fighter decapitates him.
The global terror intelligence firm SITE first reported the release of the 2-minute video, titled "A Second Message to America," in which Sotloff, a 31-year-old freelance journalist, speaks to the camera before a cloaked Islamic State fighter decapitates him.
“I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now and
why I am appearing,” Sotloff said under apparent duress. "Obama, your
foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for
preservation of American lives and interests, so why is it that I am
paying the price of your interference with my life?”
The video then cuts to the masked militant
warning that as long as U.S. missiles “continue to strike our people,
our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.” He also
threatens the life of British captive David Cawthorne Haines.
"I'm back Obama," said the left-handed
executioner with a British accent who appears to be the same man who
killed Foley. "And I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy
towards the Islamic State."
The grim video comes just days after Sotloff's mother, Shirley,
directly addressed the leader of the Islamic State last week, saying her
son shouldn't pay for U.S. government actions in the Middle East and
that he cared about the weak and oppressed as a journalist.
"I
want what every mother wants, to live to see her children's children,"
she said last week. "I plead with you to grant me this."
Shirley
Sotloff cited by name the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, who has described himself as a caliph intending to lead the
Muslim world. She had asked him to show mercy and follow the example of
the prophet Muhammad in protecting people of Muslim, Jewish and
Christian faiths.
Sotloff
was last seen in August 2013 in Syria. He was recently threatened with
death by the militants on a video unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on
the group in Iraq. The same video showed the beheading of fellow
American journalist James Foley, 45.
Several
U.S. officials, including U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., have
said they were working behind the scenes to find out more about Sotloff
and try to secure his release.
White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest could not confirm the reports when
asked about the video at Tuesday’s press briefing. He noted the
administration has been monitoring his situation carefully since threats
were first made.
“The
United States, as you know, has dedicated significant time and
resources to try and rescue Mr. Sotloff,” he said, adding “thoughts and
prayers” are with the family.
State
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the intelligence community will
work “as quickly as possible” to determine the video’s authenticity.
"If
the video is genuine, we are sickened by this brutal act taking the
life of another innocent American citizen,” she told reporters.
Pressed
by Fox News, Psaki would not say whether this would constitute an act
of war. She said the prior execution of journalist James Foley was a
“horrific terrorist act,” and was a “motivating” factor for creating a
coalition to address the Islamic State.
A spokeswoman for the National Security Council confirmed that the agency had seen the purported video.
"The
intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine
its authenticity," spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.
"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. We will provide more information when it is available.”
A family spokesman told The Associated Press that Sotloff's relatives were aware of the video and are grieving his death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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