US confirms Sotloff execution video is authentic
A video purporting to show US journalist Steven Sotloff being beheaded by Islamic State jihadists is authentic, the White House have said.
President Barack Obama vowed Washington would not be intimidated by the jihadists, who said the execution was in retaliation for expanded US air strikes in Iraq.
Mr Obama warned: "Our reach is long and justice will be served."
"Whatever these murderers think they will achieve by killing innocent Americans like Steven, they have already failed."
"They have failed because, like people round the world, Americans are repulsed by their barbarism. We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve."
"Those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget, that our reach is long and that justice will be served."
"Americans are repulsed by their barbarism, we will not be intimidated, their horrific acts only unite us" he added.
Obama said Washington's goal is for IS to "no longer pose a threat" to the region. However, this will "take time" and depends on close cooperation with partners in the region, he said.
Islamic State threatened to execute Steven Sotloff in the same video that appeared to show the beheading of US journalist James Foley. Photo: Reuters
The video was released as Iraqi forces kept up their fightback against the jihadists northeast of Baghdad. IS also warned that a British hostage would be next unless London backed off from support for Washington's air campaign in Iraq.
The masked executioner in the video spoke with a London accent, and claimed to be the same man, dubbed Jihadi John by the British press, who beheaded US journalist James Foley, 40, in a similar posting last month.
Sotloff poses with two children in Libya in 2013. Photo: Facebook.
In the latest footage, Sotloff calmly addresses the camera to say he is a victim of Obama's decision to press on with air strikes against the jihadists in Iraq.
At the end of the five-minute video recording, discovered online by the SITE Intelligence monitoring group and seen by AFP, the militant threatens another captive, identified as Briton David Cawthorne Haines.
"I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State," the black-clad jihadist says, wielding a combat knife.
The hooded man with an English accent is believed to be 23-year-old Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, known to fellow Islamic State militants as Jihadi John. Photo: Facebook
The militant condemns US air strikes against IS fighters around both Mosul Dam in the north and the Shiite Turkmen town of Amerli further south, which dates the video to the past week.
"So just as your missiles continue to strike the necks of our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people," he declares, before reaching round to cut his captive's throat.
In a warning to Britain, the killer declares: "We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone."
Britain has maintained a media silence about the kidnapping of aid worker Cawthorne Haines and there were few immediate details about when or how he was abducted.
In a statement, the Sotloff family, who live in Miami, said: "The family knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately. There will be no public comment from the family during this difficult time."
After Foley's death, Sotloff's mother Shirley had addressed a video message to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi pleading for her son's life, and insisting he had no influence on US policy.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the video depicted an "absolutely disgusting, despicable act" and convened a meeting of security chiefs to discuss how to tackle the IS threat.
"We will not be intimidated"
Joe Hockey told ABC radio Australia "will never be intimidated as a nation or a people by the threats of murderers".
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has labelled IS a "death cult", comparing its actions to the atrocities of the Nazis and communists.
Meanwhile the RAAF has begun airlifts of weapons to Kurdish forces fighting Islamic extremists in the north of Iraq after being involved in humanitarian airdrops.
Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said the beheading was more confirmation of the barbaric nature of IS.
She said the work of foreign correspondents was important because without their reporting the world would be ignorant of atrocities and suffering.
"I feel so very sad for Steven Sotloff, for James Foley, for any civilian who is caught up in this fighting," she told reporters in Canberra.
But she said while the world knew the names of Mr Foley and Mr Sotloff because of IS propaganda, there were also thousands of Iraqis who had lost their lives whose names were not known.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten described the killing of Sotloff as "medieval".
"The intervention of humanitarian support by conscientious nations is simply to arrest the spread of this sort of ignorance, hatred and violence," he told reporters in Canberra.
"A savage killing"
The previous video was released last month after US President Barack Obama ordered air strikes against the Islamic State.
It showed 40-year-old Foley's death at the hands of a masked militant who then threatened Sotloff, a Miami-born freelance reporter who has written for Time magazine, Foreign Policy and other outlets.
Jihadist group the Islamic State claimed to have executed 40-year-old James Foley in revenge for US air strikes against its fighters in Iraq. Photo: Twitter.
US officials said they were working to confirm the authenticity of the latest video, and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington would be "sickened" if it proved genuine.
“We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of US citizen Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity," National Security Council spokesperson 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.”
Shirley Sotloff pleads for release of captive journalist son
James Foley's mother pays tribute to her "extraordinary son"
A source familiar with the matter said that while US officials have yet to formally confirm the validity of the video, it appeared to be authentic.
Iraq’s outgoing foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari, condemned what he called "this savage killing...an example of savagery and evil.” and said this was evidence of the need for Iraq and the West to defeat the Islamic State.
“We have a common enemy and the whole world is moving in the right direction to stop this savagery and brutality,” Zebari said.
“The whole world is standing united against IS. They must be defeated so these horrid scenes will not be repeated."
An image from a Jihadist website shows Islamic State militants posing with the group's flag in Salahuddin in northern Iraq. Photo: AFP
Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim politician Sami Askari, who is close to outgoing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said: “They are trying to scare the Americans not to intervene. I don’t think Washington will be scared and stop ... This is evil. Every human being has to fight this phenomenon. Like cancer, there is no cure. You have to fight it.”
The Islamic State group which has taken over a third of Syria and Iraq has terrorised rivals and civilians alike with widely publicised brutality as it seeks to expand a proto-state it has carved out on both sides of the border.
In its rise to prominence over the past year, the extremist group has frequently published graphic photos and gruesome videos of everything from bombings and beheadings to mass killings.
American air strikes against IS positions and vehicles continued in the wake of Foley's death, and more than 120 have been carried out, most of them hitting targets around Iraq's largest dam north of Mosul.
US President Barack Obama speaks about the US involvement in Iraq in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. Photo: AFP
A person with ties to the Islamic State in Diyala province said the group had suffered badly in northern Iraq since US air strikes began last month, ahead of the filmed execution of Foley and grisly video of the beheading of a Kurdish soldier.
“The defeat of the Islamic State in the battle of Mosul Dam contributed to a deflating of the morale of its fighters and the American strikes have also succeeded in restricting their field operations," the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
"The initiative is not with Islamic State anymore, it’s with their enemy now."
The United States is taking the Islamic State insurgents far more seriously now than it did six months ago, when Obama told the New Yorker magazine that they were the "JV team," which is short for "junior varsity" and means they are not the best players on the field.
Sotloff's mother had pleaded for his release last week in a video directed at the Islamic State group.
Sotloff was kidnapped in northern Syria more than a year ago, on August 4, 2013. His family only publicly revealed his captivity last month, having previously requested a media blackout.
Addressing the leader of the Islamic State group by name, Shirley Sotloff said in a video her son was "an innocent journalist" who shouldn't pay for US government actions in the Middle East over which he has no control.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he wasn't immediately aware of the purported Sotloff video and wasn't in a position to confirm its authenticity.
"This is something that the administration has obviously been watching very carefully," Earnest said. "Our thoughts and prayers first and foremost are with Mr. Sotloff and Mr. Sotloff's family and those who worked with him."
A man who answered a phone listed in the name of Sotloff's sister hung up when called by the AP.
Morning news break – September 03
