The mother of an American journalist beheaded by Islamic State militants in Syria says she's never been prouder of her son.
James Foley was kidnapped two years ago.
Last night, Islamic State released a videotape that appears to show his execution, and his assassin reportedly is an Islamic State fighter with a British accent.
Now the group is threatening to kill another US journalist unless President Obama abandons military action in Iraq.
Our US Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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The release of the horrific video - now blocked by social media sites and You Tube - came just as President Obama was leaving the White House to rejoin his family on holiday in Martha's Vineyard.
The tape shows Mr. Foley on his knees, dressed in an orange jump suit.
He's forced to read a statement, blaming the Obama administration for his killing.
Then, an Islamic State militant, reportedly with an accent that could be British beheads Mr. Foley…and threatens to kill a second American journalist, also shown on his knees….Stephen Sotloff, unless the US abandons its air strikes on Iraq.
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The brutal development came just 24 hours after President Obama praised US forces for wrestling control of a dam in the Iraqi city of Mosul from the grip of Islamic State.
The President ordered US intelligence agencies to try and authenticate the videotape…but Mr. Foley's family seem to believe it is genuine.
In a statement on Facebook, his mother Diane said she had never been prouder of her son….and she urged the militants not to execute other foreign captives, arguing that journalists have no control over President Obama's foreign policy.
Jim Foley was no stranger to captivity…he disappeared in Syria two years ago.
But he was also detained in Libya for 44 days back in 2011.
After that experience, he returned to America…where in an interview with the Boston Globe, he reflected on his time in captivity.
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This time around, James Foley was not so lucky.
His colleagues in the press corps…many of them no stranger to the world's most dangerous warzones…seem genuinely stunned by his execution.
And as President Obama tries to finish an already much-interrupted holiday….Islamic State fighters say the life of that second journalist Stephen Sotloff is now in the President's hands.