Islamic State releases interview with captive Jordanian pilot
Downed airman quoted affirming that he was shot down by heat-seeking missile, a claim denied by US forces
BEIRUT — The Islamic State group published on Monday an interview with the Jordanian pilot captured last week after his plane crashed in northern Syria.
First Lieutenant Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh’s F-16 went down near the Islamic State group’s de facto capital of Raqqa on Wednesday. The 26-year-old Jordanian is the first foreign military pilot to fall into the extremists’ hands since an international coalition began its aerial campaign against IS in September months ago.
In a short question-and-answer segment in the extremist group’s monthly English-language magazine posted online, al-Kaseasbeh said his fighter jet was shot down by a heat-seeking missile near Raqqa, which is located on the banks of the Euphrates River in northern Syria.
Al-Kaseasbeh said he ejected from the aircraft and landed in the river, where he was taken captive by IS fighters.
Jordan’s government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said that he has seen the interview but declined to comment.
The United States has denied that IS shot down the Jordanian aircraft. The head of the US military’s Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin, said the US will not tolerate IS’s “attempts to misrepresent or exploit this unfortunate aircraft crash for their own purposes.”
In the new issue of the its magazine, the Islamic State group also praised the attack on a cafe and ensuing hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia this month. Two hostages and the gunman, Man Haron Monis, were killed.
Monis was a 50-year-old Iranian-born self-styled cleric with a lengthy criminal history. While holding the hostages, Monis made two strange demands: to be delivered an Islamic State flag and to speak directly with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
The Islamic State had called on Muslims to kills disbelievers in the West, including Australia.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.