The Islamic State claimed the beheading of a British aid
worker on Saturday, an act slammed as "pure evil" by Prime
Minister David Cameron who vowed Britain would do all it
could to catch the killers.
President Barack Obama offered US support for its "ally in
grief", while Cameron faced growing calls to allow Britain's
military to help in Washington's planned assault against the
rampaging jihadist group.
An image grab taken from a video released by the Islamic State
and identified by private terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence
Group purportedly shows British aid worker David Haines
dressed in orange and on his knees in a desert landscape
speaking to the camera before being beheaded by a masked
militant. (AFP Photo/ SITE Intelligence)
The British premier will chair a meeting of the government's
emergency Cobra committee early Sunday in response to
the online video purportedly showing a masked IS militant
killing hostage David Haines in retribution for the US and
British campaign against the group.
Cameron called the attack "a despicable and appalling
murder of an innocent aid worker" and "an act of pure evil."
"We will do everything in our power to hunt down these
murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it
takes," he said in a statement.
Two US journalists have been murdered in similar
circumstances in recent weeks.
Obama slammed the latest attack as "barbaric" and said the
US "stands shoulder to shoulder tonight with our close
friend and ally in grief and resolve".
Britain has yet to join US air strikes against IS in Iraq, but
has offered to arm Kurdish Peshmerga fighters battling
against militants in the north of the country, a move cited in
the latest video as a reason for revenge.
Read: Act of pure evil, says Cameron as UK hostage
beheaded
Murdered 'in cold blood'
Britain's Foreign Office said it was "working as quickly as it
could" to verify the two-minute-27-second clip, entitled "A
Message to the Allies of America".
The video opens with a clip of Cameron describing the
British strategy of working with the Iraqi government to help
arm Kurdish fighters against "these brutal extremist
militants," and to offer aid, diplomacy, and military help to
pressure IS.
Haines then appears, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and
identifies himself before calmly explaining that he is paying
the price for Cameron's policy.
The attacker -- who appears to be the same man as in the
previous two beheading videos -- tells Britain the alliance
with the US will "accelerate your destruction" and will drag
the British people into "another bloody and unwinnable war."
At the end of the clip, he also threatens to execute another
captive, identified in a caption by name as another British
citizen.
Haines's brother Mike paid tribute to a "good brother...who
was recently murdered in cold blood."
"He was, in the right mood, the life and soul of the party and
on other times the most stubborn irritating pain in the ass,"
he said in a statement.
"He was and is loved by all his family and will be missed
terribly."
Scottish-born Haines, 44, was taken hostage in Syria in
March 2013 and was threatened in a video released this
month depicting the beheading by an IS militant of the US
journalist Steven Sotloff.
IS released a video claiming the execution of fellow US
journalist James Foley on August 19.
Former head of the British Army Richard Dannatt on Sunday
piled pressure on Cameron to let the country's military join a
planned assault against IS, announced by Obama this week.
"What we absolutely need to do is not be cowed in any way
by yet another foul murder of a hostage," he told Sky News.
"We can support them (the US) to confront, attack and
defeat the Islamic State jihadi fighters ... and make sure this
cancer is removed from the region before it spreads more
widely."
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