Family of UK hostage urges Islamic State: Talk to us

The family of a British humanitarian aid worker captured by the Islamic State who is in danger of being its next Western beheading victim has pleaded with the terror group to make contact with them.

“We are the family of David Haines,” a statement relayed by the British Foreign Office said Saturday. “We have sent messages to you to which we have not received a reply. We are asking those holding David to make contact with us.”

David Cawthorne Haines, 44, was kidnapped by IS militants in March of last year while working with refugees in northern Syria. The extremist organization, which has taken over large parts of Iraq and Syria, recently beheaded two American journalists — James Foley and Steven Sotloff — in retaliation for US airstrikes on its forces. Videos of the men’s gruesome killings were distributed to the media and have caused global outrage.

IS has warned that Haines would be killed too unless London backs off from its support for Washington’s air campaign. At the end of last week’s video showing the killing of Sotloff, the killer — a British-born terrorist nicknamed “Jihadi John” by the media — brought Haines before the camera and said he was next in line.

“We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone,” he said.

The aid agency which employed Haines called the threats to his life “intolerable,” the Independent reported.

In a statement last week, the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) said “A man’s life should never be threatened on account of his humanitarian commitment….we call upon the immediate release of David.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that Britain would refuse to be cowed by the terrorists, while Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said British airstrikes were not being ruled out.

“I can assure you that we will look at every possible option to protect this person,” Hammond said, adding, “We have to deal with (IS) on the basis of the wider threat that they pose to the British public as well as this individual.”

“If we judge that airstrikes could be beneficial, could be the best way to do that, then we will certainly consider them but we have made no decision to do so at the moment,” he said.

Britain has not so far carried out any strikes of its own against jihadist targets in Iraq but it has made extensive reconnaissance flights in support of the US air campaign from its base in Cyprus.

The US has launched a campaign which it says aims to destroy IS, for the purpose of which it is assembling a broad coalition of nations. However, there is still a lack of agreement on strategy.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said as many as 40 countries have offered various levels of support — from humanitarian aid to cracking down on illicit cross-border funding and fighters that are flowing to the insurgents — to providing intelligence and supplies to rebels in Syria and security forces in Iraq.

The potential military campaign that the new coalition is planning is likely to include training and equipping moderate Syrian rebels and Iraqi forces and the expansion of airstrikes against extremists in Iraq and potentially into Syria.

AFP contributed to this report.