ISIS Killing of U.S. Aid Worker 'Act of Pure Evil,' Obama Says

The White House on Sunday called killing of U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig "an act of pure evil" as it offered its prayers and condolences to Kassig's family after the militant group ISIS announced his death in a 16-minute video.

The video features a masked militant with a British accent standing over a severed head. "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a U.S. citizen," the militant says, referring to him by the name Kassig used before he converted to Islam. Kassig, 26, of Indiana was working as a humanitarian aid worker in Syria when he was captured in October 2013.

"Abdul-Rahman was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity, President Barack Obama said in a statement Sunday afternoon, adding that while ISIS "revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction, Abdul-Rahman was a humanitarian who worked to save the lives of Syrians injured and dispossessed by the Syrian conflict." British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the video illustrated the "depravity" of ISIS and that he was "horrified by the cold blooded murder of Abdul-Rahman Kassig."

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAfter surviving a botched lethal injection, Christa Pike faces unprecedented legal battle

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHunger in a land of plenty: Major food banks face ‘heartbreaking’ need, NBC News survey finds

FOR SUBSCRIBERSInflation and tariffs push U.S. holiday spending projections to a record $1.7 trillion

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat happened inside the room where officials tried to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow we reported the saga of the CIA officer and his gold-bar stash

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘We’re going to beat you to death with audits’: Brad Raffensperger gears up to oversee his final election in Georgia

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDiddy is punished following NBC News report on his VIP life in prison and contraband cellphone use

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Too young to vote, old enough to be tear gassed’: French protesters’ anger swells

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDOJ gets aggressive in suing states that challenge Trump’s immigration policies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJustice Department seeks criminal charge for former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I just want to hold him’: USS Lincoln sailor to meet his 10-month-old son as ship docks

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenate candidates run on raising Social Security taxes for higher incomes to prevent benefit cuts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussian operation that used ChatGPT tricked schools, a politician and media, OpenAI says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLatino voters reject Trump’s immigration policies — and detail the personal impact

Slide 1 of 1

The video also shows the beheadings of people who appear to be Syrian soldiers. The militant — who sounds similar to the man with a London accent featured in previous beheading videos — goes on to say Obama had lied about withdrawing troops from Iraq. Intelligence analysts SITE said the video was produced by ISIS' propaganda unit, the al-Furqan Media Foundation.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAfter surviving a botched lethal injection, Christa Pike faces unprecedented legal battle

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHunger in a land of plenty: Major food banks face ‘heartbreaking’ need, NBC News survey finds

FOR SUBSCRIBERSInflation and tariffs push U.S. holiday spending projections to a record $1.7 trillion

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat happened inside the room where officials tried to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow we reported the saga of the CIA officer and his gold-bar stash

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘We’re going to beat you to death with audits’: Brad Raffensperger gears up to oversee his final election in Georgia

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDiddy is punished following NBC News report on his VIP life in prison and contraband cellphone use

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Too young to vote, old enough to be tear gassed’: French protesters’ anger swells

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDOJ gets aggressive in suing states that challenge Trump’s immigration policies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJustice Department seeks criminal charge for former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I just want to hold him’: USS Lincoln sailor to meet his 10-month-old son as ship docks

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenate candidates run on raising Social Security taxes for higher incomes to prevent benefit cuts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussian operation that used ChatGPT tricked schools, a politician and media, OpenAI says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLatino voters reject Trump’s immigration policies — and detail the personal impact

Slide 1 of 1

Kassig said in a letter to his parents in June that he was "pretty scared to die," urging them to "seek refuge and comfort" in the fact that he was providing humanitarian relief when he was captured.

NBC News terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Global Partners said the video was also significant for what it didn't show: "Each previous beheading video has introduced a new Western hostage — and here we have none. This suggests that either the life of British national John Cantlie is perhaps now in danger, or that they are simply running out of hostages."

• Add to Google

Mom of American Held By ISIS: 'We Haven't Forgotten Him'

00:26

IN-DEPTH

• Mother of ISIS Hostage Peter Kassig Makes New Plea for Son's Safety
• Parents of U.S. ISIS Hostage: 'We Haven't Abandoned Him'

SOCIAL

- Alastair Jamieson