Kassig beheading is act of pure evil: Obama
WASHINGTON: President Bartack Obama described the killing of former US army Ranger and aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig an “act of pure evil” by a terrorist group known for its “inhumanity”.
Kassig was beheaded along with 14 Syrian army officers and pilot by ISIS executioners led by “Jihadi John”, the British national behind previous decapitations.
Some of the other killers in the video of the beheadings released Sunday could be identified as they wore no masks — one of them is a Frenchman, and the second a British.
Kassig’s parent said in a statement that they were “heartbroken” by his death but they remained “incredibly proud” of his work and they will strive to keep his legacy alive.
The 26-year-old former US Army Ranger, who converted to Islam in a process that started before he was taken captive in 2013, was volunteering as a medic in Syria.
“While ISIL exploits the tragedy in Syria to advance their own selfish aims, Abdul-Rahman was so moved by the anguish and suffering of Syrian civilians that he traveled to Lebanon to work in a hospital treating refugees,” said Obama.
Kassig is the fifth western civilian beheaded by ISIS, which at its peak had controlled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria, but has seen its territories shrink in recent weeks.
US-led coalition forces have been hitting ISIS personnel, facilities and equipment in Syria and Iraq.
Thirty-one such strikes were conducted since Friday, said US military.
The terrorist outfit, which continues to hold 39 Indians captive, previously killed Americans Jim Foley and Steve Sotloff and Britishers David Hanes and Alan Henning.
Kassig’s parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, remembered them to say their they were also “heartbroken also, for the families of the other captives who did not make it home safely”.
ISIS is holding at least two more western civilians.
One of them is British journalist John Cantlie, and the other is an American woman, an aid worker, who is not being identified to protect her from greater harm.