US Officials Confirm 'Evil' Killing of US Hostage by Islamic State | WPN World People News

U.S. officials have confirmed the death of American hostage Abdul-Rahman Kassig in what President Barack Obama called "an act of pure evil" by Islamic State militants.

Obama said Sunday aboard Air Force One that the Islamic State group is reveling in the "slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters that Kassig, a 26-year-old former Army Ranger, had "extraordinary values and principles," and that applying them by helping others wherever it was needed "cost him his life."

Hagel said the United States is committed to defeating the Islamic State group.

"No one wants to live in a world of this kind of inhumanity and brutality, and all of us as human beings have a responsibility to see that that doesn't happen. It's difficult, but we will prevail," said Hagel.

Kassig was taken captive 13 months ago while doing humanitarian work in war-torn Syria. The Islamic State group released a video Sunday that purported to show extremists beheading several Syrian soldiers, and ended with a militant claiming to have killed Kassig.

The militant, who speaks in a British accent, said they are burying the "first American crusader" in the northern Syrian town of Dabig. He warned that U.S. soldiers will meet a similar fate.

Hagel said in an earlier written statement that the killing shows the stark contrast between the "inhumanity" of the Islamic State fighters and the "bright and generous spirit" of Kassig.

With Kassig's death, the Islamic State group has killed five Westerners it was holding. Britons David Haines, a former Air Force engineer, and Alan Henning, a taxi driver from northwest England, were beheaded, as was U.S. reporter James Foley and American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff.

Kassig's mother, Paula, recently told NBC's show that she and her husband received an audio recording of their son several weeks ago in which he said he feared his time was running out.

In a statement Sunday, the Kassig family urged the media not to broadcast images released by the militants, saying this was "playing into the hostage takers hands."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was horrified by Kassig's "cold-blooded murder."

Source: Voice of America