MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - US Intelligence community is trying to determine the authenticity of a video of US journalist Steven Sotloff, execution by the Islamic State (IS) militants that appeared online today, US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
“We have seen reports of the video that reports to be the video of the murder of the US citizen Steven Sotloff by the ISIL [IS]. The intelligence community will work as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity,” Psaki said.
Psaki also expressed support to Sotloff’s family.
When reporters asked Psaki to clarify the number of US citizens being held captive by the Islamic State militants, she couldn’t give the exact number and only said “few.”
On Tuesday, the new execution video was uploaded online by the Islamic State militants, apparently showing the execution of yet another American journalist, Steven Sotloff who has been held captive by the jihadists since August 2013.
In the video, Sotloff addresses the camera, saying, “I am sure you know exactly who I am by now and why I am appearing,” and then continues to speak about Obama's intervention in Iraq. During Sotloff's speach, the militant holds the knife by his neck. Later the video cuts to the jihadist who says that as long as US missiles “continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.”
Last week, Sotloff’s mother has videotaped an address to the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, begging him to release her son.
In August, the shocking video of another American journalist, James Foley being beheaded by a member of the jihadist group was broadcasted all around the world. The jarring footage was titled “The Message to America.”
The journalist’s executioner argued Foley was killed because US President Barack Obama had ordered airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq.
In the same video, the jihadist said that Sotloff is going to be the next if the United States did not stop the attacks.
The IS, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS or ISIL), an al-Qaeda offshoot, was fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad, and in June launched a large-scale offensive in Iraq, seizing large parts of the country.
In June, the group declared itself a “caliphate,” changed its name to the Islamic State and claimed religious authority over all Muslims globally.
In August, the United States authorized airstrikes to help Bagdad fight against IS positions in Iraq.
In turn, IS militants threatened to kill other US citizens if the country did not stop its airstrikes.
