U.K. Suggests American Journalist James Foley Beheaded By British Islamic State Terrorist
As questions continue to swirl around the purported execution of American journalist James Foley by Islamic State militants, the United Kingdom has suggested that one of the militants in the gruesome execution video was from Great Britain.
The United Kingdom's foreign secretary suggested Wednesday that the voice narrating the execution video, which involves Foley reciting threats towards the U.S. before being beheaded, is of British decent.
The voice speaking in the video speaks perfect English and now intelligence agencies in the U.S. and U.K. are reportedly working to identify the voice of the murderer.
"We are very concerned by the apparent fact that the murderer in question is British," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told NBC News on Wednesday. "We are urgently investigating."
Foley, who previously reported for the GlobalPost and the Agence France-Presse, was kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Syria in 2012. The video, released Tuesday, shows Foley purportedly being beheaded in an unknown desert location. The Islamic State militant speaking in the video demands that the U.S. stop its airstrikes on militant convoys in Iraq, or face more executions of kidnapped journalists. A second U.S. journalist, Steven Sotloff, is also shown in the video, although he is not beheaded.
Foley's family, who resides in Rochester, New Hampshire, has confirmed Foley's death on a Facebook page dedicated to his kidnapping. The photojournalist's mother, Diane Foley, said in a statement that her son "gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people."
