(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Islamic State (IS) group yesterday released a video purportedly showing a Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage, in its most brutal execution yet of a foreign hostage.
The highly choreographed 22-minute video released online showed images of a man purported to be First Lieutenant Maaz al-Kassasbeh, captured in December, engulfed in flames.
King Abdullah cut short a visit to Washington to fly home, state television said, as Amman confirmed the death of the 26-year-old fighter pilot and vowed an "earth-shattering response".
In a short televised appearance, King Abdullah said the killing of Kassasbeh was an act of cowardly terror by a group that had nothing to do with Islam.
"This (is) cowardly terror by a criminal group that has no relation to Islam ... It's the duty of all citizens to stand together," he said.
The video, whose authenticity was not immediately verified, enraged officials and the army in Jordan vowed to avenge the murder of the 26-year-old pilot.
A security official said an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber on death row, Sajida al-Rishawi, and other militants will be executed at dawn today.
"The death sentence will be carried out on a group of jihadists, starting with Rishawi, as well as Iraqi Al Qaeda operative Ziad Karbuli and others who attacked Jordan's interests," said the official.
State television said Kassasbeh had already been killed on January 3, before IS offered to spare his life and free a Japanese journalist in return for Rishawi's release.
US President Barack Obama denounced the apparent killing as "just one more indication of the viciousness (and) barbarity" of IS.
The US will "redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of the global coalition to make sure" the group is "ultimately defeated", he added.
The chief of the US-led war on IS, General Lloyd Austin, condemned the pilot's murder as "savage" and vowed to "fight this barbaric enemy until it is defeated".
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the "sickening murder will only strengthen our resolve to defeat ISIL", another acronym for IS.
Kassasbeh was captured on December 24 after his F-16 jet crashed during a mission over northern Syria as part of the US-led campaign against the militant group.
The video released yesterday shows footage of him at a table recounting coalition operations against IS, with flags from the various Western and Arab countries in the alliance projected in the background.
It then shows Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by armed and masked IS fighters in camouflage.
It cuts to him standing inside the cage and apparently soaked in petrol before a masked man uses a torch to light a trail of flame that runs to the cage and burns him alive.
The video also offered rewards for the killing of other "crusader" pilots.
The release of the video of Kassasbeh's purported murder came after IS beheaded two Japanese hostages within a week.
The Islamic State group had vowed to kill the second Japanese, Kenji Goto, and Kassasbeh by sunset on January 29 unless Amman handed over Rishawi.
Kassasbeh's plane was the first loss of an aircraft since the US-led coalition launched strikes against IS last year.
IS seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria last year, declaring a "caliphate" and committing a wave of atrocities.
The extremist group claimed in a video released on Saturday that it had killed 47-year-old Goto, after previously murdering another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.
It had initially demanded a $200mn ransom for the Japanese hostages - the same amount Tokyo had promised in non-military aid to countries affected by IS.
IS had previously beheaded two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers in similar videos.
Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, described the footage as "simply the most horrific, disgusting thing I have seen from Islamic State in the last two years".
Qatar condemns 'heinous crime'
The State of Qatar has strongly condemned the burning to death of Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh by a terrorist group. In a statement issued yesterday, the Foreign Ministry denounced the "heinous crime", terming it as a "criminal act contravening the tolerant principles of the Islamic faith, human values and international laws and norms". The Foreign Ministry expressed deep regret for the pilot's killing and expressed condolences to the pilot's family. It also expressed the solidarity of the State of Qatar with the brotherly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and its people.
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