ISIS has released a video that shows
the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff and says the murder is
retaliation for the Obama administration’s continued airstrikes in Iraq.
Sotloff
is the second American journalist to be killed by ISIS, and his death
comes two weeks after James Foley was executed in a similar video.
In
the video entitled 'A Second Message to America,' Sotloff appears in a
orange jumpsuit before he is beheaded by an Islamic State fighter.
The
executioner appears to be the same man who killed Foley – known as
‘Jihadi John’ - and tells the camera: 'I’m back, Obama, and I’m back
because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State.”
He also threatens to kill a Briton held hostage by the group next.
Tonight
Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the video and said: ‘It is an
absolutely disgusting and despicable act.” He added he will be making a
statement on the video later.
Sotloff, 31, from
Miami, who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, vanished in
Syria in August 2013 and was not seen again until he appeared in a
video released online last month that showed Foley's beheading.
In the new video that shows the killing of Sotloff,the executioner points his knife menacingly at the camera as he speaks.
Clad
in the same black garb he wore during Foley’s execution, the killer has
a pistol strapped under his arm in a shoulder holster. The black flag
of the Islamic State can be seen waving in the background.
Sotloff calmly read a statement moments before his murder: ‘I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now and why I am appearing.;
He
tells the camera: ‘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?’
While he speaks, a militant calmly holds a knife at his side and stands next to Sotloff.
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