Feb. 03--REPORTING FROM BEIRUT -- Islamic State militants released a video Tuesday appearing to show the gruesome execution of a captive Jordanian pilot.
The video shows the pilot being burned alive inside a cage, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant websites.
Jordanian state TV confirmed the death of the pilot, Lt. Moaz Kasasbeh, 26, saying he had been "martyred" a month ago, on Jan. 3. The Jordanian army issued a statement condemning the act of "this cowardly organization" and vowing vengeance.
"The Jordanian army confirms that the blood of the martyr hero will not go to waste, and will punish those who killed Moaz," said the statement, read on state TV. "It will be vengeance equal to the tragedy of all the Jordanians."
Jordan's King Abdullah II cut short a state visit to the United States and was planning to return to Jordan. First, he was scheduled to meet with President Obama early Tuesday evening.
Previous Islamic State videos have shown evidence that foreign hostages, including at least three Americans, had been beheaded.
The pilot's fate had become a matter of grave national concern in Jordan, which is among the Arab nations participating in the U.S.-led bombing campaign against Islamic State.
Many analysts have said the militants' aim is to sow dissension in Jordan, a key U.S. partner in the Middle East. Since the pilot's capture, many Jordanians have questioned Jordan's role in the U.S.-led coalition.
But his death by such horrific means could serve to unify the country in grief and anger.
Speaking on state TV, Jordan's government spokesman, Mohammad Momani, seemed to be addressing those who criticized the campaign against Islamic State.
For any Jordanians "who doubted the savagery of Islamic State, this is the proof," he said. "He who thought they represented true Islam, then this is the proof.
"Those who doubted the unity of the Jordanians in the face of this evil, we will show them the proof. He who doubted that Jordan's response will be decisive and shaking and strong, the proof will come to them, and they will know that the anger of the Jordanians will shake their ranks."
In Washington, Obama vowed that the U.S.-led coalition would "redouble the vigilance" to make sure that Islamic State is "degraded and ultimately defeated."
Kasasbeh's apparent death "indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they're operating off of, it's bankrupt," Obama said, taking a break from a meeting about healthcare to answer reporters' questions.
"We're here to talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better," Obama said. "And this organization appears only interested in death and destruction."
Kasasbeh was captured in December when his F-16 fighter crashed in northern Syria while on a mission with the coalition.
The Islamic State video depicting his death included a rambling statement from the militant group railing against Jordan's participation in the "crusader" coalition, saying that the kingdom had insisted "that its pilots would be in the vanguard of the squadron that would pour the showers of death on the people of Islam."
As has become routine in its execution videos, it showed the doomed man issuing a statement under duress that blamed his government for his death.
In it, the pilot said Jordan had "a traitor Zionist" government, and questioned why it didn't send its forces against "the Jews, who are closer to us."
He appealed to the families of other pilots to "stop your sons from this ... and order them not to go on such sorties in striking Islamic targets, so that what happened to me does not happen to your sons and your families are not saddened like mine has, along with my wife and relatives."
The pilot is from a prominent tribe in the southern city of Karak. Tribal members had pressured officials of the kingdom to do everything possible to achieve the release of the pilot. Relatives were reported to be gathering late Tuesday at a tribal headquarters.
Jordanian news reports said that the distraught family pushed away photographers who had gathered outside the tribal meeting hall as the pilot's father, Safi Kasasbeh, dressed in traditional Bedouin garb, made his way out of the building.
Until Tuesday, there had been some hope that a deal could be reached to free the pilot. Talks had been reported between the Jordanian government and intermediaries in contact with Islamic State.
Jordanian authorities had offered a prisoner exchange in which Kasasbeh would be freed in exchange for Sajida Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber on death row in Jordan for her role in a series of attacks on hotels in Amman in 2005.
But, in its public comments, Islamic State never offered to free the pilot or turn him over in a prisoner swap. Instead, the militants said they would release a captive Japanese journalist, Kenji Goto, in exchange for Rishawi, the jailed would-be suicide bomber. The fates of the captive Japanese journalist and Jordanian pilot soon became entwined in a wrenching hostage drama that resonated deeply in both Jordan and Japan.
Jordan said it would not go ahead with any deal unless it received proof that the pilot was still alive. That proof was apparently never forthcoming.
On Saturday, Goto, the Japanese journalist, was reportedly beheaded by Islamic State. His killing came a week after the reported beheading of another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.
Bulos is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Christi Parsons in Washington contributed to this report.
Follow @mdcneville for news from Iraq and Syria
UPDATES
2:17 p.m.: This post has been updated with Abdullah planning to meet with Obama.
10:57 a.m.: This post has been updated with king cutting short trip to U.S., statements from Jordanian government spokesman and details from execution video.
10:10 a.m.: This post has been updated with statements from the Jordanian army and President Obama.
This post was originally published at 9:36 a.m.
