MOSCOW, November 17 (Sputnik) – The British Prime Minister David Cameron has called an emergency meeting of the Cabinet Office Briefing Room (Cobra) for an expert discussion on the Islamic State (IS) threat, the Telegraph reported Monday.
"The prime minister will chair a meeting of Cobra (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) following the most recent murders perpetrated by IS news of which broke over the weekend. Chairing the Cobra will give him the chance to get the very latest from intelligence and security officials," Cameron's spokesman said as quoted by the newspaper.
The announcement followed news that a British student could have been among the Islamic State (IS) militants participating in the recent execution of the US aid worker Peter Kassig.
Earlier on Monday French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that is highly possible that a French citizen was also among the IS militants present in the video showing the execution of Kassig.
The footage posted Sunday by IS militants showed the beheading of the US aid worker and captured Syrian soldiers. In the video the jihadists explicitly threatened to spread their attacks to Britain and the United States.
Since August, IS fighters have posted several videos of beheadings of Western reporters and aid workers. Kassig was the fifth Western hostage murdered by the IS. The extremist group considers this a retaliatory measure in response to the US-led airstrikes targeting IS positions.
Islamic State, a radical Sunni group, gained strength in 2013. It started fighting the Syrian government in 2012 and extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq in June 2014. The group has declared a caliphate on the territories it has seized.
