World leaders condemn pilot’s killing as Jordan plots revenge

Jordan will execute Wednesday an Iraqi woman on death row after having vowed to avenge the murder of a Jordanian pilot by Islamic State jihadists, an official said.

“The sentence of death pending on… Iraqi Sajida al-Rishawi will be carried out at dawn,” the security official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber, was condemned to death for her participation in deadly attacks in Amman in 2005, and IS had offered to spare the life of the Jordanian fighter pilot, Lieutenant Moaz al-Kasasbeh, if she were released.

Reports in Jordanian media suggested other jihadist prisoners could also be put to death in the coming days.

“Jordan’s response will be earth-shattering,” Information Minister Mohammed Momani said earlier on television, while the army and government vowed to avenge the pilot’s murder.

The spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces confirmed the death of the “hero pilot” and vowed revenge.

“While the military forces mourn the martyr, they emphasize his blood will not be shed in vain. Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians,” Mamdouh al-Ameri said in a statement read on Jordanian TV.

US President Barack Obama immediately denounced the killing.

“Should in fact this video be authentic, it’s just one more indication of the viciousness (and) barbarity of this organization,” Obama said of IS.

The United States will “redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of the global coalition to make sure” the group is “ultimately defeated”, he added.

“On behalf of the American people, I offer my deepest condolences to Lieutenant al-Kasasbeh’s family and loved ones, to the brave men and women of the Jordan Armed Forces, and to King Abdullah II and the people of Jordan,” read a statement released by the White House.

“As we grieve together, we must stand united, respectful of his sacrifice to defeat this scourge.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry, fresh from a meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, vowed to keep up the fight against the Islamic State.

“Our support for the Arab coalition united against this terrorist organization will not rest until ISIL can no longer threaten the region and their lies and deceptions are clear to all,” he said in a statement.

The chief of the US-led war on IS, General Lloyd Austin, condemned the pilot’s murder as “savage” and vowed to “fight this barbaric enemy until it is defeated”.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the “sickening murder will only strengthen our resolve to defeat ISIL”, another acronym for the group.

Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London, described the footage as “simply the most horrific, disgusting thing I have seen from Islamic State in the last two years”.

“They clearly want to make a real point. This is the first individual whom they have captured who has been directly involved with the Western coalition in fighting IS. It is different from the aid workers… This is an act of belligerence”.

“Every time you think they cannot commit anything worse — they open up another trapdoor.”