The video issued by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria showing the execution of American journalist Steven Sotloff is authentic, President Barack Obama confirmed Wednesday in Estonia.
During a news conference in Estonia, President Obama, who is set to attend a NATO summit this week, also expressed sorrow for the Sotloff family. "Overnight, our government confirmed that, tragically, Steven was taken from us in a horrific act of violence," Obama said. "Those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served," he added.
The President condemned the killings of journalists Sotloff and James Wright Foley. He said America will not forget ISIS's "terrible crime against these two fine young men." "Whatever these murderers think they will achieve by murdering innocents like Steven, they have already failed," he said, reports the New York Daily News. "We will not be intimated. Their horrific acts only unite us."
National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden also confirmed the authenticity of the video and said they will continue to provide updates as they become available, reports USA Today.
Sotloff, a 31-year-old Miami native, freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines. He was abducted in Syria August 2013.
In the latest IS video, the executioner appears to be the same man who beheaded Foley. Addressing President Obama he said that the killings were the results of America's foreign policies towards the Islamic State and continued airstrikes in Iraq. He also threatened to kill David Cawthrone Haines, a British hostage, next. In a separate statement issued by the British government Wednesday, the officials said they made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Haines.
