WASHINGTON, September 14 (RIA Novosti) - The United States condemns the execution of British citizen David Haines by the Islamic State (IS) militants and will cooperate with the United Kingdom to bring his killers to justice, the White House said, citing the statement of the US President Barack Obama.
"The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of UK citizen David Haines by the terrorist group ISIL," according to the statement by the US president, reported by the press service of the White House on Sunday.
Obama also said the United States will work together with the United Kingdom and a broad coalition "to bring the perpetrators of this outrageous act to justice, and to degrade and destroy this threat to the people of our countries, the region and the world."
David Haines, a 44-year-old British citizen, was captured in Syria in 2013. According to The Guardian, Haynes had been on a humanitarian mission in Syria only for three days at the time of the abduction. The British newspaper said that the video appeared on the Internet in just a day after the Haines family asked the militants to contact them.
The British Foreign Office is urgently verifying the authenticity of the footage.
The militants also vowed to execute another British citizen, Alan Henning.
The jihadist group, known for proclaiming hardline Islamic fundamentalism, has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In 2014, it seized vast areas across Iraq and Syria and proclaimed an Islamic caliphate on the seized territories, forcing thousands members of religious minorities to flee. Up to 50,000 militants are believed to be fighting for the IS.
