IS says it burned captured Jordanian pilot alive
Pilot Moath al-Kasassbeh was captured by Islamic State in December when his plane crashed in Syria during a bombing run against the group. The video posted by the jihadist group showed him being burned in a cage, according to Maryland-based analysis firm SITE Intel Group. The Jordanian pilot is the latest captive to be executed by Islamic State, which says it's punishing countries that joined the U.S.-led military campaign to crush its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Jordan's King Abdullah called for national unity in a televised address. He met President Barack Obama in Washington late on Tuesday before cutting short his U.S. visit to fly home. The video didn't say when al-Kasassbeh was killed. The Jordanian army, in a statement broadcast on national television, said it happened a month ago, without saying how it got the information. The army vowed to "take revenge against the criminals" responsible for his death. Jordan had been in negotiations in the past week with Islamic State over the fate of al-Kasassbeh and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, and had demanded proof that the pilot was still alive. Suicide Bomber Islamic State was demanding that Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber on death row in Jordan, be released in exchange for the lives of the two captives. The group published what it said was a video of Goto's execution last weekend, after repeated deadlines for the release of al-Rishawi, sentenced to death for her role in a deadly 2005 attack in Amman, had passed. Al-Rishawi will be executed at dawn on Wednesday, Al Jazeera television reported, citing unidentified Jordanian officials. Other inmates convicted of terrorism-related offenses were also moved to a prison where executions are carried out, according to Al Jazeera. "This is a big crisis, and it is the duty of all to be united," King Abdullah said in an address to Jordanians on state television. He said al-Kasassbeh had "died defending his religion and nation." ‘Strike Harder' Obama, before his meeting with the king, told reporters in Washington that the video was "one more indication of the viciousness" of Islamic State and "will redouble the vigor and determination" of international efforts to combat the group. The pilot's death may "work against ISIS" by strengthening the resolve of governments in Arab countries like Jordan to defeat the group, according to Kamran Bokhari, an adviser for Middle Eastern and South Asian affairs at Texas-based consulting firm Stratfor. "The Arab governments will strike harder at ISIS," Bokhari said by phone, using one of the group's acronyms. "If countries become scared, that will make them look really bad and they cannot afford that." The U.S., a key financial backer of Jordan, has typically pressed its allies not to negotiate with militant groups such as Islamic State. The Jordanian government's decision to do so reflects widespread objections within the kingdom, which borders Iraq and Syria, to its decision to join the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. ‘Not Our War' "We don't want to be part of this coalition, this is not our war," Ezzat al-Kasassbeh, a relative of the pilot, said in an interview in Amman. Clashes broke out in al-Kasassbeh's home town of Karak, where angry locals fired in the air and shouted condemnation of Islamic State, and security in the area was stepped up, according to television footage. Protesters burned down a municipal building, according to khaberni.com. an independent local news website. There were protests in Amman too. Hundreds of Jordanians held a sit-in near the diwan, or council-chamber, of the pilot's tribe, while others blocked a main street chanting "we want revenge."
