Baghdad: Jihadists released a video apparently showing the beheading of an American journalist kidnapped in Syria, in the most direct retaliation yet to US air strikes against them in Iraq. The video, in which the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group also threatens to kill another reporter if US air strikes in Iraq continue, sparked global outrage today.

Posted online late yesterday, it shows a masked militant beheading a man resembling James Foley, who has been missing since he was seized in Syria in November 2012. News of Foley's apparent beheading comes as US air strikes appeared to yield some results, helping Kurdish and federal forces push IS fighters back from some recently-conquered areas in northern Iraq, including the strategic Mosul dam. "We have never been prouder of our son Jim.