Jordan: ‘IS will pay for pilot’s murder’

Jordan has vowed ‘punishment and revenge’ after its hostage pilot captured by the IS in Syria was burned to death following a week-long drama over a possible prisoner exchange.

The video appeared aimed at testing Jordan’s continuing participation in the US-led coalition attacking the Islamic State group.

Jordan’s king, a close Western ally, has portrayed the campaign against the extremists as a battle over values, but the airstrikes against fellow Muslims are not popular in Jordan.

The spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces confirmed the death of the “hero pilot” Lieutenant Muath al-Kasasbeh and vowed revenge.

“While the military forces mourn the martyr, they emphasise his blood will not be shed in vain. Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians,” Mamdouh al-Ameri said.

Al Kasasbeh, 26, fell into the hands of the militants in December when his Jordanian F-16 crashed near Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of the group’s self-styled caliphate. He is the only pilot from the US-led coalition battling the group to have been captured.

At a tribal meeting place where the pilot’s relatives have waited for weeks for word on his fate, chants against Jordan’s King Abdullah erupted and some family members wept.

Following militant demands, Jordan’s government had said it was willing to trade Sajida al-Rishawi, an al-Qaeda prisoner, for the pilot, but that it wanted proof of life first. Al-Rishawi faces death in Jordan for her role in triple 2005 hotel bombings that killed 60 people.

The video included purported images of the pilot showing signs of having been beaten, including a black eye.

At the end of the video he is purportedly shown wearing an orange jumpsuit and standing in an outdoor cage. A masked militant lights a line of fuel leading to the cage. The video also threatened other purported Jordanian pilots.

The latest video emerged three days after Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was beheaded by the militants. The fate of the two captives had been linked but a video of Goto’s purported slaying released onSaturday made no mention of the pilot.

An audio message last week, also purportedly from the Islamic State group, said the pilot would be killed if al-Rishawi was not released on Thursday, without actually proposing a swap.

A scroll on Jordan TV said that the pilot was killed on January 3, raising questions over whether any of the hostage negotiations were sincere.

US President Barack Obama said if the video is found to be authentic it would be “just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organisation”.

He added: “It will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of the global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated.”