GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Islamic State militants released a chilling videotape on Sunday showing they had beheaded a fifth Western hostage, an American aid worker the group had threatened to kill in retaliation for airstrikes carried out by the United States in Iraq and Syria.
President Obama on Sunday confirmed the death of the aid worker, Peter Kassig, a former Army Ranger who disappeared more than a year ago at a checkpoint in northeastern Syria while delivering medical supplies.
Mr. Kassig “was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group,” Mr. Obama said in a statement from aboard Air Force One that was read to the news media in Washington.
In recent days, American intelligence agencies received strong indications that the Islamic State had killed Mr. Kassig, the group’s third American victim. The president’s announcement was the first official confirmation of his death.
Abdul-Rahman Kassig with a truck filled with supplies for Syrian refugees in an undated photograph provided by the Kassig family.American Held by ISIS Says He Is ‘Pretty Scared to Die’OCT. 6, 2014
The father of Jejoen Bontinck, a young Belgian who spent three weeks in the same cell as James Foley and other hostages, showed a picture of the prison where they were held.ISIS Hostages Endured Torture and Dashed Hopes, Freed Cellmates SayOCT. 25, 2014
“Today we offer our prayers and condolences to the parents and family of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known to us as Peter,” Mr. Obama’s statement said. The president used the Muslim name that Mr. Kassig adopted after his capture, making the point that the Islamic State had killed a fellow Muslim. He acknowledged the “anguish at this painful time” felt by Mr. Kassig’s family.
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