Video Appears To Confirm US Hostage Killed

A video which appears to show that US aid worker Peter Kassig has been killed by Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria has been posted online.

The footage has not been verified and it is not known when it was recorded.

Mr Kassig's family say they are aware of the reports about their "treasured son" and are "waiting for confirmation from the government as to the authenticity of these reports".

They asked for their son to be "remembered for his important work and the love he shared with friends and family".

In the video, a black-clad militant stands before a severed head that he claims is that of Mr Kassig, who is also known as Abdul-Rahman, the name he took following his conversion to Islam while in captivity.

Speaking in English in a British accent, the man says: "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a US citizen, of your country; Peter who fought against the Muslims in Iraq, while serving as a soldier."

At another point the man says: "We say to you Obama, you claim to have withdrawn from Iraq four years ago. We said to you then that you were liars, that you had not withdrawn and that if you had withdrawn, that you would return."

The militant issues threats to Britain and the US and adds: "Obama, dog of Rome, today we are slaughtering the soldiers of Bashar (al Assad, President of Syria)."

The video shows what appears to be the mass beheading of a number of captured Syrian soldiers.

The fighter appears to be the man known as Jihadi John - who was responsible for previous hostage killings and was reportedly injured in a US airstrike.

The White House says the US intelligence community is working to verify the video.

National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said that if the video is authentic, the White House would be "appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American", and expressed condolences for his family and friends.

Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the reported killing, saying: "This underlines the deplorable depths to which these terrorists are prepared to go - savagely murdering a compassionate man."

The Foreign Office is also analysing the video, and a spokesperson said: "If true, this is a further disgusting murder."

Previous videos have shown a desert landscape, but in the latest footage the militant appears to be in front of a town with fields in the distance.

The footage identifies the militant's location as Dabiq, a small town in Syria's Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey.

The town is where IS believes an apocalyptic battle between Muslims and their enemies will take place.

Mr Kassig, a 26-year-old from Indiana, was taken hostage in October 2013.

If confirmed, Mr Kassig's beheading would be the fifth such killing of a Westerner by IS, following the deaths of US journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley and British aid workers David Haines and Mr Henning.