- .Philip Hammond said ISIS had declared war and UK had to act 'on that basis'
- .Said jihadist video showing execution of US journalist James Foley 'genuine'
- .Foreign Secretary revealed fighter in the online video 'appears to be British'
- .He added it was 'an appalling example of the brutality of this organisation’
- .Mr Hammond said ISIS is 'a poison, a cancer' which could spread
- .Reveals British troops could be sent to Baghdad to train Iraqi forces
- .But he insisted Parliament did not have to be recalled from summer recess
Britain has vowed to 'oppose ISIS with every breath in our body' after a shocking video emerged of a jihadist with a British accent beheading a kidnapped American journalist.
Graphic footage of the execution appeared in an video titled: 'A Message to the U.S.', in which an apparently coerced James Wright Foley, 40, describes America as his true killers for using airstrikes to assist Kurdish forces in recapturing the Mosul Dam from Islamic State militants.
Responding to the video, Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said Islamic State (or ISIS as they are also known) was waging war on the West and must be dealt with, before adding that Foley's executioner 'appeared to be British' and confirmed that the Government believed the footage to be genuine.
Calling ISIS an 'evil organisation', Mr Hammond said he could send British troops to help train Iraqi government soldiers to help counter the growing threat the Islamist militants pose.
Prime Minister David Cameron has since broken off his holiday and was seen returning to Downing Street earlier today to oversee Britain's response to Foley's 'shocking and depraved' beheading and the hunt for the 'British' executioner.
David Cameron arrived back in Downing Street this afternoon after cutting short his holiday in Cornwall to hold a meeting on the situation in Iraq and Syria with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond
Mr Cameron will hold emergency meetings with senior intelligence officials as investigations are carried out into the 'shocking and depraved' murder of an American journalist by a jihadist with an English accent
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the execution appeared to have been carried out by a Briton
Mr Hammond said the Islamic State video of Mr Foley, who went missing in Syria two years ago, was ‘an appalling example of the brutality of this organisation’.
In the video Foley is seen kneeling in a desert-like environment at an unknown location as an Islamic State fighter stands by his side dressed in black and with his face covered.
After both Foley and the militant issue statements, the journalist is killed in a barbaric beheading.
Mr Hammond said the video had not been verified but ‘all the hallmarks point to it being genuine’.
The Foreign Secretary said his reaction to the clip was ‘horror, absolutely horror at what appears to be a brutal execution’. He added: ‘On the face of it, it appears to be a British person.’
‘We need to push it back, we need to counter the poisonous ideology that it promotes,' he added.
He insisted this would not amount to ‘Western boots on the ground’, but admitted training Iraqi troops was ‘certainly something that we would consider’.
‘We could decide to put limited numbers of trainers into Baghdad for example.’
US journalist James Foley appears to have been beheaded by a Islamic State fighter with a British accent
'I GUESS I WISH I WASN'T AMERICAN': JAMES WRIGHT FOLEY'S FINAL WORDS
'I call on my friends family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government. For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality.
'My message to my beloved parents: save me some dignity and don’t accept any (unclear, possibly says media) compensation for my death, from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with a recent aerial campaign in Iraq.
'I call on my brother John, who is/was (this part is also unclear) member of the US Air Force, think about what you are doing, think about lives you destroy including those of your own family.
'I call on you John, think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been.
'Think John, who did they really kill? Did they think about me, you our family when they made that decision?
'I died that day John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people – they signed my death certificate.
'I wish I had more time, I wish I could have the hope of freedom and see my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn’t American.'
Mr Hammond said: ‘We are very clear that we are utterly opposed to the evil ideology of this organisation – the barbaric cruelty that they have displayed.
‘We are opposed to them with every breath in our body and we will continue to oppose this.
‘So any kind of threat they make, that if we oppose them they will come after us, frankly we’re long passed that point.
‘They are waging war on moderate Islamic opinion. They are waging war on the West and we have to deal with them on that basis.’
But the Foreign Secretary insisted the Government had not done anything ‘so far which has necessitated the recall of Parliament’.
James Wright Foley: The freelance journalist for GlobalPost, pictured in Benghazi, Libya, during the Arab Spring uprising in April 2011
Mr Foley, pictured in Syria in 2012, was determined to document the plight of suffering Muslims in the Middle East
The US journalist also documented the violence in Tripoli, Libya, during the conflict in August 2011
Mr Hammond said the Government knew there were 'a significant number of British nationals in Syria and Iraq operating with extremist organisations'.
Among them is Nasser Muthana - a 20-year-old Cardiff-raised jihadist who appeared in a chilling ISIS recruitment video earlier in the year.
In a disturbing twist he appeared to attend some sort of screening of the video in Syria before it was officially released, telling another militant: 'Yo bare ikhwa [brothers] here wana watch it come here lad.'
That tweet - sent using the nom de guerre Abul Muthanna - was in response to an invitation he received to watch what was described as the 'hilarious' video in a nearby internet cafe.
![In a disturbing twist Nasser Muthana - the 20-year-old Cardiff-raised jihadist who appeared in a chilling ISIS recruitment video earlier in the year - appeared to attend a screening of the video in Syria before it was released. He invited another militant to join him, declaring there are 'bare ikhwa' [ISIS fighters] there to watch](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/20/article-2729594-20A99F3600000578-657_634x463.jpg)
In a disturbing twist Nasser Muthana - the 20-year-old Cardiff-raised jihadist who appeared in a chilling ISIS recruitment video earlier in the year - appeared to attend a screening of the video in Syria before it was released. He invited another militant to join him, declaring there are 'bare ikhwa' [ISIS fighters] there to watch
Mr Hammond said the number of British nationals fighting in Syria is 'one of the reasons why this organisation represents such a direct threat to the UK's national security.
‘Many of these people may seek at some point to return to the UK and they would then pose a direct threat to our domestic security.’
He acknowledged that ‘significant numbers’ of British nationals had been involved in ‘terrible crimes’ and ‘probably in the commission of atrocities’.
‘This is a poison, a cancer, what's going on in Iraq and Syria and it risks spreading to other parts of the international community and affecting us all directly.’
He added: ‘This may come as news to some people but it certainly does not come as news to us.
‘We are absolutely aware that there are significant numbers of British nationals involved in terrible crimes, probably in the commission of atrocities, making jihad with IS and other extremist organisations.
Photo journalist James Foley went missing in Syria two years ago
‘This is something we have been tracking and dealing with for many, many months, I don't think this video changes anything it just heightens awareness of a situation which is very grave and which we have been working on for many months.’
The video of the beheading is also being investigated by Washington.
The victim, wearing an orange outfit, makes a statement during the five-minute video titled ‘A message to America’ released by the Islamic State Al-Furqan foundation.
During the speech he said he wanted to call on family, friends and loved ones to ‘rise up against my real killers, the US government’.
He added: ‘For what will happen to me is only the result of their complacency and criminality’.
The statement, during which Foley is seen to pause and take deep breaths, ended with him saying he wished he could see his family again.
The IS fighter standing next to him is then seen brandishing a knife before accusing America of ‘aggression towards the Islamic state’.
He said: ‘You have plotted against us and gone far out of your way to find reasons to interfere in our affairs.
In a chilling threat in which he singles out President Barack Obama, he says further actions in Iraq by America ‘will result in the bloodshed of your people’.
TWITTER CONSIDERS MOVE TO REMOVE GORY PICTURES AND VIDEO OF FOLEY VIDEO
Twitter has said it will consider the removal of images of dead people at the request of family members.
In a crackdown on gory and upsetting photographs that have emerged on the site recently, Twitter said it would consider taking down images of deceased individuals 'from when critical injury occurs to the moments before or after death'.
But the site said it would take into account the public interest of any content and warned that it may not agree to all requests.
The announcement follows the shocking beheading of American photojournalist James Foley, 40, by an ISIS militant yesterday.
Yesterday, the White House contacted social networks asking them to remove videos of his death.
Twitter declined to say whether it had also received a request from Mr Foley's family.
The masked, armed and robe-clad man speaks in perfect English in what sounds like a London or southern English accent.
Some experts have since suggested the executioner's accent also has mild North African intonations, which could well mean he moved to Britain at a young age.
After the victim is apparently beheaded, another man, said to be journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, who went missing near the border of Syria and Turkey last year, is shown at the end of the video, with the Islamic State fighter saying his life depends on President Obama's ‘next decision’.
Sotloff has been missing since the middle of 2013 and last tweeted on August 3rd, 2013 about his hometown basketball team the Miami Heat.
According to his Twitter account he was in Libya at the time of his disappearance.
Mr Foley's mother Diane released a statement saying the family ‘have never been prouder’ of him, and pleading with the kidnappers not to kill any other hostages.
‘We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.
‘We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world.
‘We thank Jim for all the joy he gave us. He was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist and person. Please respect our privacy in the days ahead as we mourn and cherish Jim.’
Foley, has been missing since November 2012, after being taken hostage at gunpoint by militants from the group Jabhat al Nusra while reporting from Taftanaz, northern Syria, for the GlobalPost.
Jabhat al Nusra subsequently joined forces with ISIS - which did not exist in anything like its current form when Foley was taken - which explains how he ended up in their hands.
The sickening video was designed to send a clear signal to the U.S. to halt the airstrikes that have destroyed a significant amount of ISIS' military equipment in and around the Mosul Dam, and allowed Kurdish Peshmerga to reclaim the strategically important complex.
This morning U.S. jets were seen in the air above the dam as the Kurdish troops who now control it were drawn into fighting with ISIS fighters who remain in the area, hoping to retake control.
STILL ALIVE: ISIS THREATENS TO KILL AMERICAN JOURNALIST STEVEN JOEL SOTLOFF NEXT
Next? Soltoff has been missing since August 2013, when he disappeared while reporting near Aleppo
At the end of the disturbing video, the masked ISIS operative issues a threat to kill another American journalist held captive if President Obama continues to order attacks against the group invading Iraq.
Freelance journalist Steven Joel Sotloff is paraded in front of the camera, and held by the collar of his shirt as the operatives says: 'The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision'.
Sotloff has been missing since August 2013, when he was kidnapped near Aleppo, Syria.
He sent out his last tweet on August 3, talking about his hometown basketball team the Miami Heat.
According to his account, he was living in Benghazi, Libya at the time.
ABC News foreign editor Jon Williams tweeted today that Sotloff's family were previously advised not to go public with news of his disappearance.
But a family friend wrote about Sotloff last December, saying he went missing August 4 and to pray for his return.
Sotloff, a graduate of the University of Central Florida, had been published in TIME, World Affairs, National Interest and the Christian Science Monitor.
The last story he filed was on November 26, 2012 titled 'Libya's New Crisis'
'Steve Sotloff lived in Yemen for years, spoke good Arabic, deeply loved the Islamic world..for this he is threatened with beheading,' friend Anne Marloe tweeted on Tuesday, following the video's release.
In the video, Sotloff did not speak, and appeared with a shaved head and face.
Then and now: Sotloff is pictured in a contributor photo for a 2011 Daily Caller photo on the left, compared to the man identified as Sotloff in the beheading video on the right
UK jihadis among the 'most vicious and vociferous fighters' in the world
British extremists are among the most ‘most vicious and vociferous fighters’ in the Islamic State's ranks in Syria and Iraq, a jihadism expert has said.
Sunni Muslims from the UK are taking part in the conflicts ‘in every way’, according to Shiraz Maher, from King's College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.
That includes acting as suicide bombers and executioners, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme after a video purporting to show US journalist James Foley being beheaded by a Britis IS fighter was placed online.
US reporter Daniel Pearl (left) was murdered in Pakistan by British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (right)
Mr Foley is the second American journalist killed by a Islamist terrorist. Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was murdered by British born Omar Saeed Sheikh in Pakistan in 2002.
The black-clothed and masked man, who speaks with a London accent, threatened bloodshed in the gruesome video, speaking with confidence of when he accuses America of plotting against Muslims and interfering in their affairs, before taking a knife to his victim's throat.
If it is confirmed, as it appears, that he is British he will be seen as the most extreme example yet of a fighter travelling from the UK to take part in brutal violence as part of the militant Islamic State (IS) movement.
Mr Maher, a senior research fellow at ICSR, told Today: ‘Unfortunately the British participation in the conflicts now raging in both Syria and Iraq has been has been one of full participation, one that has seen them at the front lines, taking part in the conflict in every way.
‘So we have seen British fighters out there operating as suicide bombers, we have seen them operating as executioners.
‘Unfortunately they are amongst some of the most vicious and vociferous fighters who are out there. That is unfortunately just a part of their radicalisation.’
A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa
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