ISIL`S VENGEANCE AND THE DEATH OF THE JORDANIAN PILOT

Middle East

ISIL video purportedly shows killing of Jordanian pilot

Jordan declares period of mourning after video appears to show captive pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh being burnt alive.

AL YAZEERA, 03 Feb 2015

 

 

 

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL) has published a video that purportedly shows the burning death of the captive Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh.

The video released on Tuesday said that the killing of Kassasbeh was in response to Jordan's role in the US-led coalition against ISIL.

The Jordanian army has officially informed Kassasbeh's family of his death, according to Al Jazeera's Nisreen el-Shamayleh, who is reporting from the Jordanian capital Amman.  

The Jordanian state television has reported that a period of mourning has been declared. It also reported that the pilot, who had been in ISIL's captivity since December, was killed on January 3.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Abdel Bari Atwan, a Middle East analyst, said that if proven true, the killing of Kassasbeh is "unprecedented." 

"It's a very clear message and they are trying to show maximum brutality," Atwan said, adding that ISIL is not interested in negotiations.

"They are looking to terrorise."

Reacting on the news of Kassasbeh's reported death, US President Barack Obama said that his government and coalition partners will redouble efforts "to make that that they [ISIL] are degraded and defeated."

"It is just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organisation."

The video showing Kassasbeh's killing was produced by al-Furqan media, the official media wing of ISIL.

The video, which is 22 minutes and 34 seconds long also called for the killing of other Jordanian pilots.

The 26-year-old First Lieutenant was taken hostage in ISIL's stronghold of Raqqa after his F-16 jet crashed.

ISIL members have claimed to have shot down Kassasbeh's plane with a heat-seeking missile.

The armed group that controls vast swathes of Syria and Iraq has been demanding the release of Sajida al-Rishawi in exchange for Kassasbeh's life.

Rishawi has been held by Jordanian authorities since 2005, after being arrested and later sentenced to death "for conspiracy to carry out terror acts" after a triple bomb attack on the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman, the Jordanian capital.

Source: Al Jazeera