WASHINGTON —The White House said Tuesday it has not confirmed the authenticity of a video that purports to show the killing of American journalist James Foley by Islamic State militants.
White House National Security Council spokesman Caitlin Hayden said the administration has seen the video and that the intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine if it is authentic.
"If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends," Hayden said in a statement.
Foley, a 40-year-old a freelance journalist from Rochester, N.H., went missing nearly two years ago in northern Syria while on assignment for Agence France-Press and the Boston-based media company GlobalPost. The car he was riding in was stopped by four militants in a contested battle zone that both Sunni rebel fighters and government forces were trying to control. He had not been heard from since.
The release of the video purportedly showing Foley's death comes amid a U.S. airstrike campaign against Islamic State targets in Iraq. The group has declared an Islamic state in the territory it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria, imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.