The murder of ISIS hostage Peter Kassig leaves the terrorist group with just one remaining U.S. hostage, a 26-year-old female aid worker.
Little
is known about the unnamed woman, other than that she was captured in
Syria last year, and that ISIS has demanded $6million for her release.
As part of the deal the group also demanded the release of imprisoned
neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui.
Siddiqui,
an MIT-trained neuroscientist, was convicted in 2010 of trying to kill
U.S. officials. Authorities believe she may have also been planning the
construction of dirty bombs to be used in terrorist attacks.
Last
seen: Peter Kassig - who changed his name to Abdul-Rahman after
converting to Islam - was paraded at the end of a graphic video
(pictured) last month showing the murder of Brit Alan Henning
Murdered: President Barack Obama on
Sunday paid tribute to American aid worker Mr Kassig (pictured) as an
ISIS video purporting to show a militant standing above his severed head
was confirmed as genuine
The
female aid worker was snatched while helping people displaced by the
Syrian war along with other aid workers in August 2013. The other
workers are thought to have been released.
It
is not known exactly how many Westerners are still held in Syria, but
the woman is not thought to be the only one. In September it was
reported they could have as many as 24 who were either journalists or
aid workers.
Freelance
journalist Austin Tice was abducted in Syria more than two years ago.
There has been claims that Mr Tice was held by the Syrian government,
but this has never been verified, and exactly who is holding him remains
unclear. British photojournalist John Cantile is also still being held
after being captured in Syria last year and has regularly appeared in
ISIS propaganda videos.
The
U.S. female hostage is thought to have been particularly motivated to
help orphans and other children separated from their families during the
war.
Her family has requested her name not be released, as U.S. officials fear further attention could endanger the woman's life.
Exactly
what will happen to her remains unclear. She did not appear at the end
of a video, released Sunday, showing the aftermath of Mr Kassig's death,
which breaks the terrorist group's pattern of introducing its next
victim.
ISIS has killed Muslim women, as well as children, but has never murdered a female Western hostage on camera.
A former U.S. counterterrorism official told the The Daily Beast that before ISIS decides what to do with the woman, it will carefully consider how the public would react.
'Before they’re doing anything, they want to have a really good feel for how it will play,' the official said.
Unsettling: The
video also shows the mass murder of Syrian military personnel by
beheading led by Jihadi John at a desert location. Unlike the murder of
Western hostages, the killing of the Syrians is shown in full
Confirmation:
The White House confirmed Mr Kassig's beheading following an intense
review of an ISIS video purporting to show a militant (pictured)
standing above his severed head
The
website goes on to say that the fact ISIS request ransoms, yet set them
too high for most people to pay, suggest the group has no intention of
freeing prisoners. Their hostages are simply props used to recruit new
members in their global propaganda campaign, it is said.
The
Obama administration refuses to pay ransoms and has told families of
Americans held in Syria that they could be prosecuted if they paid for
their loved ones’ release.
The
video showing Mr Kassig’s death had been expected since he was shown on
camera in October, at the end of footage showing the murder of British
aid worker Alan Henning
The
video differs to those earlier released by the group, and may signal a
change in their direction and strategy. At 16 minutes, it is
considerably longer than the usual two-three minute clips, and it is
more brutal.
In
the video a gang of ISIS fighters behead 18 hostages. The clip features
slow-motion effects and ominous music. The terrorists celebrate the
deaths, and there is a call-to-arms.
Bloodthirsty: The video shows in full graphic detail how the militants saw the heads off their victims
Mr
Kassig, who is already dead, appears near the end of the video and is
not seen speaking. His executioner says, he had 'little to say'. Other
hostages read out statements denouncing the U.S. airstrikes.
In
previous films showing victims including James Foley and David Haines,
captives kneeled in the sand and spoke out in favor of the so-called
Islamic State before being killed.
Several
current and former U.S. officials speculated to the Daily Beast that Mr
Kassig, who had converted to Islam and adopted the name Abdul Rahman,
might have refusing to read pre-written statements: 'I suspect that
Pete knew this was coming and that he refused to talk.'
Mr
Kassig’s parents, Ed and Paula Kassig of Indiana, had spoken out at
length in their efforts to free their son. His conversion to Islam, was a
pillar of their arguments for his release.
They
said their son was 'fed by a strong desire to use his life to save the
lives of others' and that he 'was drawn to the camps that are filled
with displaced families and to understaffed hospitals inside Syria'.
They said: 'We know he found his home amongst the Syrian people, and he hurt when they were hurting.'
Mr Kassig's parents said they hoped their son would be remembered for his 'important work' and his love for others.
'We
prefer our son is written about and remembered for his important work
and the love he shared with friends and family, not in the manner the
hostage takers would use to manipulate Americans and further their
cause,' the said.
'The
family respectfully asks that the news media avoid playing into the
hostage takers’ hands and refrain from publishing or broadcasting
photographs or video distributed by the hostage takers.'
The
couple also added that they were waiting for the U.S. government to
verify the authenticity of the ISIS video - which has since happened
President Barack Obama on Sunday paid tribute to Mr Kassig while attacking ISIS.
Speaking
as he flew back to Washington from Hawaii, he said the 26-year-old
veteran was 'taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group
that the world rightly associates with inhumanity'.
He
said the Islamic State, which now controls a third of Iraq and Syria,
'revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent
only on sowing death and destruction.'
And
he described Mr Kassig as a 'humanitarian who worked to save the lives
of Syrians injured and dispossessed', adding: 'We cannot begin to
imagine [his family's] anguish at this painful time.'
Family photo: Mr and Mrs Kassig are seen with their son - who changed his name to Abdul-Rahman
Obama's statement came just minutes after the White House announced that the 16-minute long ISIS propaganda video was real.
It also followed an emotional statement from Mr Kassig's family about he fate of their 'treasured' son.
They are yet to release a statement following the confirmation of his death.
Speaking
in the now-familiar London accent of ISIS executioner-cum-spokesman
Jihadi John, a masked jihadist warns in the murder video: 'To Obama, the
dog of Rome. Today we are slaughtering the soldiers of Bashar and
tomorrow we will be slaughtering your soldiers.
'And
with Allah’s permission we will break this final and last crusade. And
the Islamic State will soon, like your puppet David Cameron said, begin
to slaughter your people in your streets.’
Mr
Kassig was captured in Syria in October last year while providing
medical training and humanitarian aid to victims of the country's
conflict.
Previous
beheading videos showed a desert landscape but in this latest release
appears to be in front of a town with fields in the distance. Mr
Kassig's apparent murder is not shown.
At
the end of the video, which intersperses various executions with file
footage of U.S. forces in Iraq and later clips of Islamic State battles,
a bloodied, decapitated head is shown at the feet of a militant wearing
khaki boots.
The
masked militant may be Jihadi John, the man believed be from Britain
who wielded the knife in four previous murders of Western hostages.
His
voice sounds similar to the voice of the masked militant who has
featured in previous videos. and he has what sounds like a London accent
despite his voice being distorted.
However,
the news of Mr Kassig's death broke hours after Jihadi John was
reportedly injured in U.S. airstrikes on Saturday night.
In
the video, the militant says: 'This is Peter Edward Kassig, a U.S.
citizen of your country. Peter, who fought against the Muslims in Iraq
while serving as a soldier under the American army, doesn't have much to
say. His previous cell mates have already spoken on his behalf.
'But
we say to you Obama ... you claim to have withdrawn from Iraq four
years ago. We said to you then that you are liars, that you have not
withdrawn and that if you had withdrawn that you would return, even if
after some time.
'You
would return. Here you are. You have not withdrawn. Rather, you hid
some of your forces behind your proxies and withdrawn the rest. Your
forces will return, greater in number than they were before. You will
return and your proxies will not benefit you.
'And
we also remind you of the haunting words that our Sheikh Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi told you. The spark has been lit here in Iraq and its heat
will continue to intensify by Allah's permission until it burns the
crusader army in Dabiq.
'And here we are, burying the first crusader in Dabiq. Eagerly awaiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive.'
A
dateline on the video says it has been shot in Dabiq, which is the
location where Islamic State militants believe a decisive final battle
will be fought with Western forces.
Footage also shows the militant leading the mass execution of Syrian military personnel by jihadis at a desert location.
Unlike
the apparent murders of Western hostages, in which the camera cuts away
at the moment their throats are cut, these killings are shown in full.
Mr
Kassig had formed the aid organisation Special Emergency Response and
Assistance, or SERA, in Turkey to provide aid and assistance to Syrian
refugees.
He
began delivering food and medical supplies to Syrian refugee camps in
2012 and was also a trained medical assistant who provided trauma care
to injured Syrian civilians and helped train 150 civilians in providing
medical aid.
Mr
and Mrs Kassig said they had been doing all they could to free their
son but were silent about his plight for a year at the instructions of
the ISIS militants. Mr Kassig told U.S. show CBS This Morning: 'They
demand. They simply demand.'
ISIS
has declared an Islamic caliphate in the areas under its control in
Syria and Iraq, which it governs according to a harsh version of Shariah
law.
The
U.S. began launching air strikes in Iraq and Syria earlier this year in
a bid to halt the group's rapid advance and eventually degrade and
destroy it.
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