British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday praised slain British aid worker David Haines as a hero and pledged to continue working as part of an international coalition to "hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice no matter how long it takes."
The militant group Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, released a video Saturday purporting to show his beheading. Britain's Foreign Office said the video appeared to be authentic.
"Today the whole country will want to express its deep sympathy for David Haines' family," Cameron said after chairing an emergency cabinet meeting Sunday morning at the prime minister's official residence on Downing Street in London.
Cameron added that Britain and the rest of the world cannot ignore the threat Islamic State poses.
"Step by step we must drive back, dismantle and ultimately destroy ISIL and what it stands for," Cameron said. "They are not Muslims, they are monsters."
Britain has partnered with the United States in its push to thwart the militant group by providing assistance to the Iraqi military and to Kurdish fighting forces, known as the peshmerga, in northern Iraq.
However, Cameron is under growing pressure over whether Britain will join in U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State. The prime minister did not address the question of airstrikes in his statement today.
In the video, titled "A Message to the Allies of America," Haines is made to read a statement directed to the British prime minister.
"My name is David Cawthorne Haines. I would like to declare that I hold you, David Cameron, entirely responsible for my execution," says Haines.
"You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State, just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend amongst our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say no to the Americans."
The Islamic State militant in the video, swathed in black with his face obscured, threatened Cameron over Britain's alliance with the U.S.
"Your evil alliance with America, which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq … will only accelerate your destruction, he says. "And playing the role of the obedient lap dog, Cameron, will only drag you and your people into another bloody and un-winnable war."
The video follows the same format as two recent videos that showed the killings of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. The militant speaks with a British accent and appears to be the same person as in the previous productions.
At the end, the militant presents a second British hostage, Alan Henning, whom he also threatens to kill in response to the policy of Britain and its allies. Henning is a 47-year-old taxi driver from Salford near Manchester who traveled to Syria as a volunteer in a convoy delivering humanitarian aid.
Haines' brother released a statement Sunday via Britain's Foreign Office expressing the love his family feels for him and saying he will be missed.
"My name is Mike Haines, I am brother to David Haines, who was recently murdered in cold blood," it read.
"David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles. His joy and anticipation for the work he went to do in Syria is for myself and family the most important element of this whole sad affair."
David Haines, a 44-year-old father of two, was abducted in Syria last year where he was working with the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based aid organization, to deliver humanitarian relief to refugees displaced by the civil war in Syria. He'd also worked with aid groups in the Balkans, South Sudan and Libya, after a career as an aircraft engineer with Britain's Royal Air Force.
Surviving him are his wife and 4-year-old daughter in Croatia, where Haines lived before his kidnapping, and a 17-year-old daughter in Scotland from a previous marriage.
His killing was condemned by many in Britain's sizable Muslim community.
Dr. Qari Asim, imam of the Makakh Mosque in Leeds, issued a statement that said, "David Haines' burning passion and courage to help people in need in conflict zones will continue to inspire generations. His savage murder is not only an attack on an individual, but an attack on the whole humanitarian cause."
"It is a moral obligation on British Muslims to actively oppose ISIS' toxic ideology, especially when this is being promoted within Britain."
The British government estimates that approximately 500 or more Britons have traveled to fight in Syria.
Werth is a special correspondent.
Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times8:44 a.m.: This post has ben updated to include information on a second British hostage whose life has been threatened by Islamic State.
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