After the brutal killing of James Foley just a few weeks back at the hands of a suspected British ISIS militant comes another similar execution. This time the victim is another journalist Steven J Sotloff. A video was posted on the internet by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Tuesday showing the savage beheading of Sotloff. The authenticity of the video was also confirmed by the White House on Wednesday.
31-year-old Sotloff was killed by the rising terrorist organization despite the numerous appeal from the victim’s mother Shirley who desperately pleaded to the top leadership of the group which includes their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi seeking mercy for her son. Sotloff was captured and taken as a hostage by the terror group almost a year ago in northern Syria. ISIS had warned the US that Sotloff could be the next to die if they didn’t stop the air strikes on Iraqi soil.
It is still not clear where and when he was executed. Some say that he was killed on the same day as Foley and his video was made public later. However, in the latest video released, Sotloff can be seen with hair on his head, unlike the first video where he was totally bald and clean shaven which indicates that he was killed a few days after Foley. These barbaric killing of innocent journalist has become a huge headache for the Obama administration as they have failed completely to protect their citizens.
The terrorist organization has threatened to kill another hostage who is identified as David Cawthorne Haines, a British national if the air strikes by the allied forces continue. According to some reports ISIS have two more American citizens under their captivity. Steven Sotloff, a native of Florida was a freelance journalist who used to write for a number of publications including Time magazine on the situation in West Asia.