Update | Islamic State beheading video authentic, says White House
An internet video posted online on Tuesday purported to show the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group, which called it retribution for continued US airstrikes in Iraq.
The video purporting to show US journalist Steven Sotloff being executed is authentic, the White House said on Wednesday.
“The US Intelligence Community has analysed the recently released video showing US citizen Steven Sotloff and has reached the judgment that it is authentic,” said National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden.
The video showing the beheading of the journalist was released by the Islamic State group on Tuesday, which called it retribution for continued US airstrikes in Iraq.
Sotloff, 31, who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, had last been seen in Syria in August 2013 until he appeared in a video released last month that showed the beheading of fellow American journalist James Foley.
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Dressed in an orange jumpsuit against the backdrop of an arid Syrian landscape, Sotloff was threatened in that video with death unless the US stopped airstrikes on IS group in Iraq.
In the video distributed on Tuesday and entitled “A Second Message to America,” Sotloff appears in a similar jumpsuit before he was purportedly beheaded by an Islamic State fighter.