President Obama has paid tribute to the murdered US journalist James Foley – beheaded by the Islamic State in a propaganda video.
He praised the reporter’s work as courageous, condemning the extremists’ “hateful terrorism” and describing their ideology as “bankrupt”.
“The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. We will be vigilant and we will be relentless. When people harm Americans anywhere, we do what’s necessary to see that justice is done and we act against ISIL standing alongside others,” the president said.
The killer’s apparent British accent has refocused attention on the UK’s home-grown jihadists.
Condemning a “barbaric, brutal act”, British Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged the murderer probably was a British citizen.
“Now this is deeply shocking, but we know that far too many British citizens have travelled to Iraq and travelled to Syria to take part in extremism and violence, and what we must do is redouble all our efforts to stop people going,” he said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned a “cowardly assassination”.
The thoughts of many are with James Foley’s family.
His mother Diane said the journalist gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.
A former colleague said James Foley was the kind of person needed to expose the dark areas where dictators thrive.
There have been calls on social media for people not to share the video and images of James Foley’s death, and instead remember the man and his work.
