BAGHDAD — Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Saturday that purported to show the beheading of British aid worker David Haines.
Reuters could not immediately verify the footage. However, the images were consistent with that of the filmed executions of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, in the past month.
Haines, a 44-year-old father of two from Perth in Scotland, was kidnapped last year while working for the French agency ACTED.
The video titled, “A Message to the Allies of America,” opened with UK Prime Minister David Cameron talking about working with the Iraqi government and allied Kurdish Peshmerga forces to defeat the Islamic State.
“This British man has to pay the price for your promise, Cameron, to arm the Peshmerga against the Islamic State,” said a masked man dressed in black with a British accent, standing over Haines, who was shown kneeling and wearing an orange jumpsuit.
The video then showed the beheading of the kneeling man.
At the end of the video, another hostage was shown and the masked man said he would be killed if Cameron continues to support the fight against the Islamic State.
Cameron condemned the killing and said he would bring the killers to justice.
“This is a despicable and appalling murder of an innocent aid worker. It is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to the family of David Haines who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude throughout this ordeal,” he said in a statement released by Downing Street.
“We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.”
In Washington, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said she had no comment on the video and referred queries to the British government.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that any international coalition against terrorism should not just focus on Islamic State militants.
Sisi also expressed concerns about foreign fighters in the Islamic State and the danger they posed to their home countries because of Western passports that can get get them through airports undetected.
Egyptian security officials have said the Islamic State has established contacts with Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the country’s most dangerous militant group, which has killed hundreds of security forces since the army toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year after mass protests against him.
Egypt would certainly welcome action against Ansar as well as Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which it has declared a terrorist group.
Sisi said any international coalition to combat terrorism “should be comprehensive and not exclusively target a specific organization or eradicate a certain terrorist hot spot,” said the president.
“Rather, the coalition should extend to encompass combating terrorism wherever it exists in the Middle East and African regions.”
The statement added that Sisi “warned of the repercussions from the involvement of foreign militants in ongoing regional conflicts.”