Turkey strongly condemns killing of Jordanian pilot by ISIL

ANKARA

A harrowing video emerged online on Feb. 3 purporting to show the caged 26-year-old F-16 fighter pilot engulfed in flames. REUTERS Photo

Turkey has strongly condemned the killing of a Jordanian pilot, who was apparently burnt to death by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists, vowing full support in the fight against terror with Jordan and the international community.

“We learned with great sadness that lieutenant pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh was slaughtered by terrorist organization DAESH” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said through written statement on Feb. 4, using the Arabic acronym of ISIL.

Ankara “vehemently condemned this felonious action,” and said the killing of the pilot does not agree with any “humanitarian values.”

A harrowing video emerged online on Feb. 3 purporting to show the caged 26-year-old F-16 fighter pilot engulfed in flames.

Al-Kasasbeh was captured in December when his jet crashed over northern Syria on a mission that was part of the coalition air campaign against the jihadists.      

Jordanian state television suggested he was killed on Jan. 3, before ISIL offered to spare his life and free Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in return for the release of Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi al-Qaeda militant who had been imprisoned in Jordan since 2005 for an attempted suicide bombing.