This Article is From Sep 02, 2014

Islamic State Group Reported to Behead Second American

Islamic State Group Reported to Behead Second American

A militant Islamist fighter on the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014 (Reuters photo)

The Islamic State group has beheaded Steven Joel Sotloff, the second American executed by the Islamic militant group, and posted a video of it on the Internet, the SITE Intelligence group, a research organization that tracks jihadist web postings, said Tuesday.

The execution of Sotloff, 31, came despite pleas from his mother aimed directly at the Islamic State's top leader seeking mercy for her son, a freelance journalist who was captured in northern Syria a year ago.

Word of Sotloff's beheading came two weeks after James Foley, 45, another American journalist, was beheaded by the Islamic State group, which warned back then that Sotloff
 would be the next to die.

In the latest video, Sotloff describes himself as "paying the price" for the Obama administration's decision to strike Islamic State targets in Iraq. The same masked fighter who appeared in the Foley beheading also appears beside Sotloff, asserting, "I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State."

The SITE Intelligence Group also said the Islamic State group was threatening a third captive, a Briton it identified David Cawthorne Haines, as the next beheading victim.

At least two other Americans are believed to be held by the Islamic State group. 
© 2014, The New York Times News Service
.