Steven Sotloff 'beheaded by Islamic State' - latest - Telegraph.co.uk

22.05 On August 24, the British ambassador to Washington, Sir Peter Westmacott, said the UK was "very close" to identifying the British-accented killer of James Foley. More than a week later there's been no public update on the hunt for the man nicknamed "Jihadi John".

21.40 The video of Steven Sotloff's apparent murder appears to have been found by a private US intelligence firm before it could be released by the Islamic State.

News of Mr Sotloff's death was broken by the SITE Intelligence group, a private company that monitors jihadist activity and has close ties to the American intelligence community.

The group's analysts found the video on what a spokesman described as "a file-sharing site" and send it out to its subscriber list. SITE's subscribers include government officials, journalists and academics involved in analysing terrorism.

Compare that to the choreographed release of the video showing the murder of James Foley, which was released on Youtube and then pushed out by IS accounts.

21.20 Expect the pressure on Obama to take decisive action against IS to ramp up in the wake of this second killing. Here's Lindsay Graham, a Hawkish Republican senator.

21.05 Beyond its barbarity, what clues can we take from the Sotloff video about when it was shot?

-The jihadist in the video brings up the American bombing of the area around the Mosul Dam, which began on August 16.

-Steven Sotloff's hair is noticeably longer than it was the video showing the death of James Foley. In that video, released August 19, Mr Sotloff's head is shaved bald but in today's video his hair has partially grown back.

-The video opens with a short clip of an statement Obama made on August 20.

So what does that all mean? It appears to show that Mr Sotloff was kept alive for at least several days after Mr Foley was killed and appears to contradict theories that all the hostages were executed together and the vidoes drip fed out.

21.00 President Obama has just boarded Air Force One for his flight to Estonia without commenting on the Sotloff video. The White House has released this statement:

We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of US citizen Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will provide more information when it is available.

20.43 Here is an audio clip of the purported killer of Steven Sotloff:

20.41 Video of US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki's statement:

20.32 Peter Foster, The Telegraph's US editor, writes that Barack Obama has so far adopted a hands-off policy in the Middle East, but the killing of a second American hostage may force his hand :

Barack Obama has often scorned American foreign policy that took military action for action's sake – but the apparent beheading of a second American hostage now presents a profound test of this position.

If confirmed, the killing of Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State (Isil) will arouse the righteous anger of the US public and only increase demands for Mr Obama to take a more proactive approach to dealing with the jihadist threat in Iraq and Syria.

Last week, pleading the need for more time to develop a workable plan, Mr Obama admitted that "we don't have a strategy yet" on hitting Isil in Syria. The gaffe prompted derision from his political opponents who said the president was not judicious, as his supporters contend, but weak and indecisive.

However the apparent killing of the two Americans in the most gruesome manner imaginable now plunges this issue right through the psychological defences of a war-weary middle America that has tried to keep the collapse of Iraq at arms-length.

20.07 TIME editor Nancy Gibbs has said in a statement:

We are shocked and deeply saddened by reports of Steven Sotloff’s death.

Steven was a valued contributor to TIME and other news organisations, and he gave his life so readers would have access to information from some of the most dangerous places in the world. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

20.05 New York Times reports that Josh Polsky, a university friend of Sotloff's, said:

The guy lit up a room. He was always such a loyal, caring and good friend to us.

19.54 A family spokesman says Sotloff's relatives are aware of a new video purporting to show his beheading by Islamic State militants, the AP reports.

In a two-sentence statement, family spokesman Barak Barfi said Sotloff's family "knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately".

19.49 A US official told the Wall Street Journal :

Some US government officials believe that Mr Sotloff was likely killed immediately after Mr Foley in August, and that militants delayed the release to heighten the impact of the video.

19.43 In the video, the killer states:

I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State, because of your insistence on continuing your bombings and ... on Mosul Dam, despite our serious warnings.

So just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.

In the video, Sotloff describes himself as "paying the price" for the US intervention in Iraq with his life.

19.30 Shashank Joshi writes that Islamic State's tactics create fear out of all proportion to its military size :

Why does the Islamic State engage in beheadings and crucifixions? Of course, the practice of beheading is invoked in the Koran, but only the most extreme Islamic militants carry it out in the modern day.

We might identify three parts to this. First, psychological warfare is a key part of the Islamic State's military strategy. Even where outnumbered, as they were in Mosul in June, the Islamic State's fighters have used their reputation for terror to dissuade Iraqi forces from ever seeking battle. Which poorly paid soldier wishes to risk decapitation, impalement, or amputation for the sake of a distant, crumbling government? Fear is a uniquely effective weapon.

19.28 The National Journal has published a tribute to Sotloff, detailing some of his work as a journalist in the Middle East.

19.08 US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says that if the video is genuine, "we are sickened".

18.54 Steven Sotloff's apparent murder at the hands of the Islamic State came in spite of an emotional plea by his mother for the jihadist group's leader to spare his life.

Less than a week ago, Shirley Sotloff posted a video begging for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-declared caliph of the IS, to show mercy towards her son.

"My son Steven is in your hands," Mrs Sotloff said in the short video. "“You, the caliph, can grant amnesty. I ask you please to release my child. I ask you to use your authority to spare his life.”

18.50 Rob Crilly reports:

There was speculation when the Foley video was released that Sotlof was murdered at the same time. However, Eliot Higgins, tweeting as Brown_Moses, who identified the site of the Foley killing using open source information, suspects the two were killed in different locations:

18.40 White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters in a briefing that the video would be analysed very carefully, adding that the administration's thoughts and prayers were with Sotloff's family:

Our thoughts and prayers, first and foremost, are with Mr Sotloff's family and those who work with him. The United States, as you know, has dedicated significant time and resources to trying to rescue Mr Sotloff. I'm not in a position to confirm the authenticity of that video or the reports at this point obviously since I just walked out here but it appears the video that has been released is something that will be analysed very carefully by the US government and our intelligence officials to determine its authenticity.

18.37 David Cameron has said: "I've just seen the news. It's an absolutely disgusting and despicable act and I will be making a statement later."

18.31 A masked figure in the video also issued a threat against a British hostage.

18.26 The White House said that it had yet to authenticate the footage, which SITE said showed 31-year-old freelance writer Steven Sotloff on his knees beside an IS fighter with a knife.

Steven Sotloff before his kidnapping

18.25 The video warns governments to back off "this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State".

Sotloff, 31, disappeared while reporting in Syria in August 2013. His apparent kidnap was not widely reported until he appeared on a video released last month by the Isil.

In the footage a masked militant beheads US reporter James Foley then parades Mr Sotloff, warning he will meet the same fate unless US President Barack Obama ends air strikes against the group in Iraq.

18.20 Hello, this is our live coverage of the release by Islamic State of a second video, apparently showing the beheading of American journalist Steve Sotloff

American hostage Steven Sotloff has reportedly been executed by jihadist terrorists. There was no immediate confirmation of the video.