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 U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed the death of the aid worker
in what he called "an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the
world rightly associates with inhumanity."
The announcement of Kassig's death, the fifth such killing of a
Western captive by the group, formed part of a 15-minute video
posted online in which Islamic State showed the beheadings of at
least 14 men it said were pilots and officers loyal to Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.
Kassig, 26, from Indiana, was also known as Abdul-Rahman, a name he
took after converting to Islam in captivity. His family has said he
was taken captive on his way to the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on
Oct. 1, 2013.
“We are heartbroken to learn that our son, Abdul-Rahman Peter
Kassig, has lost his life as a result of his love for the Syrian
people and his desire to ease their suffering," Ed and Paula Kassig
said in a statement. "Our heart also goes out to the families of the
Syrians who lost their lives, along with our son."
 The video did not show the beheading of Kassig, who previously
served in the U.S. Army, but showed a masked man standing with a
decapitated head covered in blood at his feet. Speaking in English
in a British accent, the man says: "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a
U.S. citizen."
The video appeared on a jihadist website and on Twitter feeds used
by Islamic State.
In a statement to reporters on Air Force One on his way home from a
G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, Obama praised Kassig's
humanitarian work and offered condolences to his family.
BRITISH ACCENT
The man in the video spoke with the same southern British accent as
the killer of previous hostages, dubbed "Jihadi John" by British
media. He was believed to have been wounded in an air attack on an
IS leaders' meeting in Iraq near the Syrian border earlier this
month, some media reports have said.
French daily Le Figaro said on its website that the French Interior
Ministry was studying the possibility of the presence of a French
national among the Islamic State militants involved in the
beheadings shown in the video.
In the video, a masked militant says: "To Obama, the dog of Rome,
today we are slaughtering the soldiers of Bashar and tomorrow we
will be slaughtering your soldiers," in a prediction that Washington
would send more troops to the region to fight Islamic State.
"And with Allah's permission ... the Islamic State will soon ...
begin to slaughter your people in your streets."
The format of the video was different from previous such
announcements, showing other beheadings in graphic detail, and also
showing most of the killers unmasked. The purported location also
was disclosed as the northern Syrian town of Dabeq.
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An Islamic State supporter in Syria contacted by Reuters said: "The
message is very clear. This is what the West understands. They think
they can scare us with their planes and their bombs. No, not us. We
are out to impose the religion of God and, by his will, we will."
Kassig was doing humanitarian work through Special Emergency
Response and Assistance, an organization he founded in 2012 to help
Syrian refugees, the family has said.
Obama said Kassig's life stood in stark contrast to the values
represented by Islamic State, adding he was a "humanitarian who
worked to save the lives of Syrians injured and dispossessed by the
Syrian conflict."
Islamic State's "actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim
faith which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own," Obama added.
Islamic State previously killed U.S. journalists James Foley and
Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan
Henning.
The masked militant, who appeared to be the leader of a beheading
squad, said Kassig was buried in Dabeq, near the Turkish border.
"Here we are burying the first American crusader in Dabeq. Eagerly
waiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive," he says.
Western leaders and officials condemned the killing.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was horrified by the
"cold-blooded murder."
The beheadings of the Syrian personnel were filmed in death squad
style, with militants standing behind a kneeling man in a dark blue
overall. In slow motion shots, each of the militants is shown
drawing a knife from a box on the side of the road.
(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Lin Noueihed, Kylie MacLellan,
Karey Van Hall, Geert De Clercq, Jane Wardell and Viktor Szary, Mark
Hosenball, Alina Selyukh and Bill Trott; Editing by William Maclean,
Janet Lawrence, Giles Elgood, Eric Walsh and Frances Kerry)
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