DUSHANBE, February 4, 2015, Asia-Plus — Islamic State (IS) militants released a video on Tuesday appearing to show a captured Jordanian pilot Mouath al-Kasaesbeh being burnt alive in a cage, a killing that shocked the world and prompted Jordan to promise an “”earth-shaking” response, international media outlets report.
A Jordanian official said the authorities would swiftly execute several militants in retaliation, including an Iraqi woman whom Amman had sought to swap for the pilot taken captive after his plane crashed in Syria in December.
Reuters reports the fate of Kasaesbeh, a member of a large tribe that forms the backbone of support for the country”s Hashemite monarchy, has gripped Jordan for weeks and some Jordanians have criticized King Abdullah for embroiling them in the U.S.-led war that they say will provoke a backlash by militants.
The king cut short a visit to the United States to return home following word of Kasaesbeh”s death. In a televised statement, he said the pilot”s killing was an act of “cowardly terror” by a deviant group that had no relation to Islam.
Jordan had sought to swap the pilot for Sajida al-Rishawi, the Iraqi woman militant who was sentenced to death for her role in a 2005 suicide bombing in Amman that killed 60 people. Islamic State had demanded her release in exchange for the life of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto. However, Goto, a veteran war reporter, was later beheaded by the group, with images of his death released in a video on Saturday.
The Jordanian military reportedly might escalate attacks on Islamic State.
In the pilot”s hometown of Karak in southern Jordan, people demanded revenge.
According to Reuters, Jordanian state television said on Tuesday that Kasaesbeh had been killed a month ago, on January 3, and a source close to the Jordanian government said Amman had been picking up intelligence for weeks that the pilot was killed some time ago.
Associated Press reports that the kingdom, which had vowed a swift and lethal response, executed two al-Qaida prisoners by hanging early Wednesday. The government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani was cited as saying that Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman, was executed before daybreak Wednesday, along with another prisoner, Zaid al-Karbouly, also linked to al-Qaida. Another official said they were executed by hanging.
Jordan is part of the alliance against the Islamic State group that has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq. King Abdullah has defended the campaign against domestic criticism, saying that moderate Muslims need to combat a group whose ideology and brutality have insulted Islam.
