The so-called “Islamic State” has murdered a second American reporter, releasing another propaganda video Tuesday showing a masked militant with a British accent cutting the throat of a US captive.
In the latest footage, 31-year-old reporter Steven Sotloff addresses the camera to say he is a victim of President Barack Obama’s decision to press on with air strikes against the jihadists.
At the end of the five-minute recording, the IS militant presents another captive to the camera, identified in an on-screen caption as British, and implicitly threatens him with execution.
A US spokeswoman said Washington was trying to authenticate the “sickening” footage, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said it depicted an “absolutely disgusting, despicable act.”
The footage was almost identical to a video the Islamic State released last month in response to Obama’s ordering US air strikes, and showing the murder of 40-year-old reporter James Foley.
US air strikes have continued since the first killing and on Tuesday appeared to bear fruit, as Iraqi forces made more progress in their fightback against the jihadists who have seized much of northern Iraq.
After breaking a months-long siege of the Shiite Turkmen town of Amerli, government troops also regained control of part of a key highway linking Baghdad to the north of the country.
Two towns north of Amerli had already been retaken on Monday as Iraqi forces — backed by US strikes — won their first major victories since the army’s collapse across much of the north in June.
That collapse left some 1,700 soldiers who surrendered in jihadist hands, with many believed to have been executed.
In Baghdad, demanding to know the fate of their relatives in uniform, hundreds of angry family members stormed parliament, attacked MPs and began a sit-in in its main chamber, an official said.
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