Jordan has confirmed pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who was captured by the ISIS extremist group in December, was burned to death, The Associated Press reports.
Jordanian state television confirmed Jordanian pilot Mu'ath al-Kasasbeh has been burned to death by ISIS.
This barbaric execution of al-Kasasbeh follows the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto last Saturday. Both men were being held hostage by Daesh.
The spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces confirmed the death of the “hero pilot” Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh and vowed revenge.
“While the military forces mourn the martyr, they emphasize his blood will not be shed in vain. Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians,” Mamdouh al-Ameri said in a statement read on Jordanian TV.
Mu'ath al-Kasasbeh was captured by Daesh after his plane crashed over the terrorist’s stronghold of Raqqa in Syria. He was on a mission with the US-led coalition against Daesh.
The video released on Tuesday said that the killing of Kassasbeh was in response to Jordan's role in the US-led coalition against ISIL.
ISIS demanded a prisoner exchange in which Iraqi prisoner and convicted to execution terrorist Sajida al-Rashawi would be brought to the Turkish border, Japanese hostage Kenji Goto would be released, and al-Kasasbeh's life would be safeguarded for the time being.
Negotiations to free and exchange of al-Kasasbeh in a prisoner swap were collapsed a few days ago and did not happen, as Daesh failed to provide proof of life for the pilot. The Jordanian government has threatened to execute Daesh prisoners in its custody if Kasasbeh was harmed.
The latest video emerged three days after Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was purportedly beheaded by the militants. The fate of the two captives had been linked but a video of Goto's purported slaying released Saturday made no mention of the pilot.
In the hometown of al-Kassasbeh, al-Karak, friends, family and supporters gathered to show their support and express anger at the the news of his death.
At a tribal meeting place where the pilot's relatives have waited for weeks for word on his fate, chants against Jordan's King Abdullah II erupted and some family members wept. An uncle shouted in Arabic: "I received a phone call from the chief of staff saying God bless his soul."
The pilot's father, Safi, was surrounded by family members.
Jordan vows "earth-shaking" response to pilot's killing
Jordanian King Abdullah cut short a visit to the United States on Tuesday after Islamic State militants released a video purporting to show a captive Jordanian pilot being burnt alive.
A Jordanian army spokesperson vowed to avenge Kassasbeh's death, saying the response "will be proportional to this catastrophe that has struck all Jordanians."
"His blood will not be shed in vain."
President Obama condemns purported burning of Jordan pilot by ISIL
Barack Obama says video purportedly showing a Jordanian pilot being burnt alive by the ISIS is further proof of the group's "viciousness and barbarity", Guardian reported.
Obama said the action will "redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of our global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated."
Reports: Jordan will execute imprisoned terrorists
Jordan is responding swiftly to ISIS's claim that it has killed Moaz al-Kasasbe, a Jordanian pilot the group had been holding hostage.
Sky News Arabia and AFP are reporting that the kingdom plans to execute prisoners including Sajida Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber arrested in 2005 in connection with Al Qaeda in Iraq's attack on hotels in Amman that year which killed 60 people.
While the news has not been confirmed, Randa Habib, a former Amman-based AFP journalist deeply sourced inside the Jordanian government, tweeted that Rishawi and Ziad Karbouli, a former top aide to Jordanian-born Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, "may be executed today." Habib added that her sources indicated that a number of terrorist’s suspects had been transferred between prisons, possibly in preparation for their execution.