US hostage Kassig 'killed by IS'

A video released onto the internet claims to show that Islamic State militants have killed the captured US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.

In the video, a masked militant stands over a severed head said to be that of Mr Kassig.

The aid worker - known as Peter Kassig before he converted to Islam - was kidnapped in Syria last year.

In October, an IS video of the killing of British aid worker Alan Henning had ended with a threat to Mr Kassig.

From NBC News

Intelligence officials were on Sunday investigating a video purportedly posted online by ISIS that claims to show that captured U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig has been killed. The propaganda video, whose authenticity has not been verified by NBC News, features a masked militant with a British accent standing over a severed head. “This is Peter Edward Kassig, a U.S. citizen,” says the militant.

Kassig, 26, from Indiana, was working as a humanitarian aid worker in Syria when he was captured by ISIS in October of 2013. He was born Peter Kassig but changed his name after converting to Islam.

“We are aware of a video that claims to show the murder of U.S. citizen Peter Kassig," said National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan in a statement. "The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If confirmed, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American aid worker and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends." Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the video illustrated the "depravity" of ISIS and that he was "horrified by the cold blooded murder of Abdul-Rahman Kassig."