White House Confirms Authenticity of ISIS Video Showing Beheading of Reporter
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The White House has confirmed that an Internet video purporting to show the beading of American reporter Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State extremist group is authentic.
“The U.S. Intelligence Community has analyzed the recently released video showing U.S. citizen Steven Sotloff and has reached the judgment that it is authentic,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement released early Wednesday. “We will continue to provide updates as they are available.”
President Obama paid tribute to Sotloff during a join press conference with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, calling him a “devoted, courageous journalist” and describing the manner of his death as a “horrific act of violence.” Referencing Sotloff’s family, Obama said, “today, our country grieves with them.”
The global terror intelligence firm SITE first reported the release of the 2-minute video, titled “A Second Message to America,” in which Sotloff, a 31-year-old freelance journalist, speaks to the camera before a cloaked Islamic State fighter begins to decapitate him.
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By JAMES NYE FOR MAILONLINE and MICHAEL ZENNIE FOR MAILONLINE and DAVID MARTOSKO.
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. The identity of the hostage is widely available online, but MailOnline is not identifying him at the request of the British government.
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