EU vows to continue IS pursuit

Obama condemns militants' killing of US aid worker Kassig as 'pure evil'

The European Union said on Monday it remains "fully committed" to tackling the threat posed by Islamic State after the extremist group beheaded 19 men, including US aid worker Peter Kassig.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and humanitarian aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said in a statement that the killing of Kassig and 18 men described as Syrian military personnel showed IS' "resolve to pursue its terror agenda in breach of all universally recognized values and rights".

EU members Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France and the Netherlands are taking part in US-led airstrikes against IS in Iraq, but no EU country is involved in the strikes against the group in Syria.

A video released by IS militants showed the beheading of 18 men described as Syrian military personnel and Kassig, who took the name Abdul-Rahman after converting to Islam.

Kassig was captured last year and was threatened in an Oct 3 video showing the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.

US President Barack Obama condemned the beheading of Kassig as "pure evil" after the group released a video showing his body on Sunday.

"Abdul-Rahman was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity," Obama said.

Parents' grief

The 26-year-old's parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, said in a statement that he "lost his life as a result of his love for the Syrian people and his desire to ease their suffering".

Kassig first went to the Middle East with the US army, which he joined in 2006, according to his military records. He served in the 75th Ranger Regiment, a special operations unit, and was in Iraq from April to July 2007 before being medically discharged as a private first class that September.

AFP - AP - Reuters

(China Daily 11/18/2014 page12)