Middle East
Dec. 30, 2014 | 08:15 AM (Last updated:
December 30, 2014 | 10:00 AM)
ISIS releases interview with
captive Jordanian pilot
Associated Press
BEIRUT: ISIS published Monday an interview with the Jordanian pilot captured
last week after his plane crashed in northern Syria.
First Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh's
F-16 went down near ISIS's de facto capital of Raqqa 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 ISIS in September.
In a short question-and-answer segment in the extremist group's monthly
English-language magazine posted online, 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.
Kaseasbeh said he landed in the
river after ejecting from the aircraft, where he was taken captive by ISIS fighters.
Jordan's government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said that he had seen
the comments but declined to comment.
The United States has denied that ISIS shot down the Jordanian aircraft. The head of
the U.S. military's Central Command, Gen. Lloyd Austin, said the U.S. would not
tolerate ISIS's "attempts to misrepresent or exploit this unfortunate
aircraft crash for their own purposes."
In the new issue of the its magazine, ISIS 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 preacher with a lengthy
criminal history. While holding the hostages, Monis made two strange demands:
to be delivered an ISIS flag and to speak directly with Australian Prime
Minister Tony Abbott.
ISIS had called on Muslims to kills disbelievers in the West, including
Australia.
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