’ISIL’ Militants Murder Another Briton, Besiege Kurdish Town

Local Editor

The "ISIL" terrorists mounted brutal offensives on both the Syrian battlefield and in their online propaganda war Friday, murdering a British hostage and attempting to storm a key border town.

In a video released by the group in response to US-led air strikes against it, a masked ISIL fighter beheads British driver Alan Henning and threatens a US captive, aid worker Peter Kassig.
The footage, almost identical to three previous execution films released by the group, inspired revulsion around the world and drew a stark warning from Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron.

"We will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice," he said, declaring that the apparent murder "shows just how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are."
US President Barack Obama condemned the "brutal murder" and warned that the US-led coalition "will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy "ISIL".

For its part, the UN Security Council said the video serves as a "tragic reminder of the increasing dangers volunteer humanitarian personnel face every day in Syria."

The ISIL video, found online by US-based private monitor SITE, opens with a news report about the British parliament's vote last week to authorize air strikes against extremist targets in Iraq.

Then it cuts to Henning, on his knees against a desert backdrop and wearing an orange prison-style outfit, with a masked militant standing over him wielding a combat knife.

Henning, a 47-year-old volunteer driver who went to Syria with a Muslim charity, explains to the camera that, as a member of the British public, he is being made to pay for the parliamentary vote.

Then the militant, who has the same British accent as the killer in previous ISIL execution videos, directly addresses Cameron.

"The blood of David Haines was on your hands, Cameron. Alan Henning will also be slaughtered, but his blood is on the hands of the British parliament," he declares, then cuts the hostage's throat.

Kassig, a former US army soldier and Iraq veteran in his twenties who returned to the Middle East to found an aid agency, is then shown alive and threatened by the knife-wielding militant.
"Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment in Sham, which keeps on striking our people."

"So it is only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people.

Henning's apparent murder came as other "ISIL" terrorists besieged the Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border, where Kurdish militiamen are mounting a desperate defense.

A Chechen "ISIL" fighter was leading the assault on the town, which is considered a strategic prize.

The fierce fighting came a day after the Turkish government won authorization from parliament to take military action in Syria and Iraq.

"We will do whatever we can so that Kobane does not fall," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, adding that about 186,000 refugees had come across from Syria in less than two weeks.

In response, Syria was quick to respond with a warning of its own, saying the Turkish stance "represents a real aggression against a member state of the United Nations."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team