Warning: This news story deals with graphic subject matter that may be distressing to readers.
The Islamic State has released a sickening video purportedly showing a captured Jordanian pilot being burned alive.
The video, which was released online appeared to show First Lieutenant Maaz al-Kassasbeh — who was captured when his plane crashed in Syria in December — burning inside a metal cage.
Jordanian state television confirmed the man’s death and said he had been killed on 3 January– before ISIS offered to spare his life and free Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in return for the release of a female Iraqi held in Jordan.
“This [is] cowardly terror by a criminal group that has no relation to Islam … It’s the duty of all citizens to stand together,” Jordan’s King Abdullah said in a televised appearance.
Jordan has also vowed an “earth-shattering” response to avenge his death, the ABC reports.
US president Barack Obama immediately denounced the purported killing as “just one more indication of the viciousness [and] barbarity of this organisation”.
The ABC reports the pilot’s distraught friends and family have since gathered in Amman, Jordan.
Our thoughts are with the family of Maaz al-Kassasbeh.
Related content: Girls are being raped and buried alive by the Islamic State.
Top Comments
Mainstream media - it's time to STOP reporting these stories. You're dancing with the devil. This is exactly what ISIL wants is mass coverage of these atrocities. If they don't have an audience they have no power. JUST STOP.
I can remember seeing the photos of ISIS dragging this poor soul out of the water without his pants on and wondering what his fate would be. Never, did I imagine they would do this too him. I can't believe that in 2015, any human would be burned to death like this. I felt physically sick when I read about it. Parts of humanity are sick to the core.