White House Confirms Peter Kassig's Beheading

The Islamic State militants have beheaded another American hostage, Peter Kassig, the White House confirmed Sunday.

Kassig was an aid worker and former soldier. Hours before the White House confirmed his death, a video, reportedly showing him, surfaced online. The 15-minute video, in which Kassig was barely recognizable, showed the outcome of the beheading, CNN reports.

This is the fifth such killing of a Western captive. In the video, the IS also showed the beheadings of more than 14 men, who were pilots and officers working for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reports.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the killing of the 26-year-old victim. He said: "Kassig was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity."

After Kassig converted to Islam while in captivity, he was known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig. Kassig was originally from Indiana. His family claims that he was held by the terrorists while he was on his way to the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Oct. 1, last year.

"We are heartbroken to learn that our son, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, has lost his life as a result of his love for the Syrian people and his desire to ease their suffering. Our heart also goes out to the families of the Syrians who lost their lives, along with our son," his parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, said in a statement.

In the statement they posted on their Facebook page, the couple urged the media to not publish videos or photographs of their son that were distributed by the jihadist group. "We prefer our son is written about and remembered for his important work and the love he shared with friends and family, not in the manner the hostage takers would use to manipulate Americans and further their cause," the statement read, Newsweek reports.