Egypt’s El-Sisi Calls Jordanian Pilot Killing “Savage Act”

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday strongly condemned the killing of a Jordanian pilot captured by the Islamic State, calling the militant group “a savage cowardly organisation that violates all heavenly doctrines,” state news agency MENA reported.

El-Sisi confirmed Egypt’s support to Jordan at this time.

The international community needs to unite to fight terrorism in all its forms and to confront the terrorist groups that use Islamic slogans, even though religion has nothing to do with their actions, he said.

A video released by IS on Tuesday purportedly showed Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kassasbeh being burnt alive, after he was captured by the group when his fighter jet crashed near the IS-controlled Syrian town of Raqqa in December.

A spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces has confirmed Kassasbeh’s death and vowed “punishment and revenge,” AFP reported.

Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Ati had earlier called the execution a “barbaric, cowardly, brutal and hideous act.”

Egypt has also faces a growing wave of jihadist attacks, the latest of which claimed the lives of at least 30 people in a series of bombings in North Sinai on Thursday. The assault was claimed by Sinai-based IS-affiliate Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis.

Source: Ahram Online