Caution: This story contains graphic content.
Steven Sotloff, an American journalist held captive by militants, was allegedly beheaded by the Islamic State today.
The militant group released a three-minute-long video that shows Sotloff reading a coerced statement, a threat from ISIS to President Obama, Sotloff’s beheading by a man with a British accent, and then a threat towards another captive, British aid worker David Haines.
The video comes just two weeks after an eerily similar video was released showing the beheading of James Foley, another American journalist. Sotloff was threatened at the end of the Foley video if America did not cease airstrikes against the group.
Sotloff was kidnapped in 2013 while covering the fighting in Syria. He was a freelance journalist who had appeared in Time magazine and Foreign Policy.
Last week, his mother made an emotional plea to ISIS to be “merciful” towards her son. The Sotloff family is reported to be aware of the video and is grieving for their loss.
The National Security Council has released a statement saying they were working “as quickly as possible” to verify the authenticity of the video.
“If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” read a statement from the State Department.
ISIS supposedly holds several more journalists in captivity. Syria, where Sotloff and Foley were abducted, is supposedly the most dangerous place for journalists to report from.
Popwrapped offers its deepest condolences to the Sotloff family.
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