The militant who apparently beheaded a US journalist in a sensational video released by the Islamic State, is thought to be a British jihadist as he appeared to speak in the footage with a British accent, various newspapers have noted.
This comes after the jihadist militants released the horrific footage on Tuesday of a masked militant, who spoke with a Southern English accent, apparently beheading the American photojournalist James Foley, the Mirror notes.
The killer's apparent distinct British accent will raise fears about the role of Islamic extremists from the United Kingdom in Islamic State, the group which now controls major swathes of Iraq's north and Syria, the British newspaper, Telegraph notes.
The video, which was entitled 'A Message to America', was posted on YouTube as a retaliation of targeted US airstrikes in Iraq. The video showed the freelance journalist – kidnapped in northwest Syria on Thanksgiving 2012 and had been considered missing until hitherto – kneeling in the desert in an orange jumpsuit as a masked man in black stands beside him.
Before the beheading takes place, the journalist was forced to recite a prepared statement calling the US government his 'real killers'.
"I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers – the US government," the 40-year-old was forced to say, according to various news sources. "For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality."
The militant then reportedly murdered the freelance journalist before placing his severed head on this back as the body lay on the ground. The killer than grabbed another prisoner, who is believed to be US journalist Steven Sotloff, and said in a chilling warning that the Scotloff's life "defends on Obama's next decision".
A native of Rochester, Foley was kidnapped in northwest Syria on Thanksgiving 2012, while he was covering the Syrian crisis, and had been considered missing until photos and footages appeared online on Tuesday claiming to show his beheading.
The Obama Administration, earlier this month, decided to launch airstrikes against the insurgents, after months of bloody campaign by the jihadists led to the capture of a major swathe of the areas in northern Iraq and Syria, which they claim to be their new caliphate state.
James, who had worked for the Boston-based GlobalPost and other news organisations, had been kidnapped by a group of unidentified gunmen and made his disappearance public in January 2013 with the hope of appealing for his release.
The journalist's mother, Diane Foley, praised her son on Tuesday for giving his life "to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people."
