The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

The group has made rapid territorial advances across Iraq and Syria

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

British aid worker David Haines was taken hostage and killed by the group

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

The group has also taken taxi driver Alan Henning hostage

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

Militants have released videos depicting mass executions

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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Raqqa: Islamic State's Menacing Power Base

Raqqa in northern Syria is Islamic State's power base and the focus of international efforts to defeat the Islamic extremists and rescue western hostages.

The city - effectively the capital of the IS "caliph" - is almost completely inaccessible to journalists and Westerners - but information can be gleaned from IS propaganda videos, residents who have managed to flee and an underground resistance network that posts videos and reports online.

:: Raqqa is the highly-organised capital of the jihadists' Islamic caliphate

IS captured Raqqa amid fierce fighting in May 2013 but has maintained a hold on the city by setting up a functioning government and public services. Military operations and civilian administration are run separately, with fighters and employees getting a salary from the "Muslim Financial House" department. IS has claimed the poor are effectively paid benefits, while taxes are imposed on the wealthy and prices are kept low in the markets. Foreign experts have been recruited to run ministries - a Tunisian with a PhD in charge of telecoms, an Egyptian engineer serving as oil minister.

:: The city is the centre of the search for Jihadi John

Raqqa is believed to be where IS are holding some 20 international hostages, including Briton Alan Henning, and intelligence efforts to save them are focused on the city. Experts and a small resistance movement within the city have matched up photos and video footage to pinpoint the location on the outskirts of the city where they believe James Foley was beheaded. They suggest the killings took place on open ground near a cemetery, not far from the city's Alltihad University.

:: IS are thought to be using a network of tunnels under the city

The hunt for the hostages and their captors has been frustrated due to the suspected use by IS of a network of underground tunnels to move around the city. IS are believed to move the hostages between safe locations regularly and the group's leaders, including Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, rarely stay in one place for more than a day or two.

:: Foreign fighters have "flooded" the city

A jihadist boasted to Reuters this month that Raqqa was welcoming 1,000 new IS volunteers every three days, many of them from abroad. Fighters with South African, French, Dutch, Australian and of course British accents have appeared in videos or on social media praising life under the Islamic State. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation claims Glaswegian Aqsa Mahmood is a key figure in the al Khanssaa brigade, a female militia set up to punish women for "non-Islamic" behaviour.

:: The Hisbah police keep the people in check

The hisbah - clad in a distinctive uniform of white thobe with black waistcoats and black caps - patrol the streets with Kalashnikovs slung over their backs, enforcing strict Sharia law in the previously cosmopolitan city. They police everything from the price of beef in markets to female dress and follow up on reports of residents suspected of using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Attendance at prayers is rigidly enforced, with jihadists boasting of emptying once busy markets five times a day. Anyone who crosses the hisbah faces immediate imprisonment and punishment according to Sharia law - from whipping for alcohol sellers to public execution for drug users.

:: Children are being drawn into the IS cause

Raqqa is the IS base for preparing the next generation of jihadists. Islamic education groups are held in mosques and festivals have been held to encourage youngsters to sign up to the cause. Children are shown videos of beheadings to inure them to violence and warn them of the consequences of resisting the jihadists. Warda Ali, a female resident who fled Raqqa after resisting IS, told US broadcaster NPR how parents - keen to please their new rulers - brought their children to the town square to watch public beheadings.

:: Resistance - "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently"

A small group of activists have been risking their lives to reveal a true picture of the grim conditions imposed by IS. Under the slogan "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," they post videos and photos of public executions and other punishments meted out by the Islamists, as well as possible locations for IS training camps and the executions of Western hostages. IS have condemned the activists as "enemies of the lord" and reportedly executed one, Motaz Billah, after tracing him through Facebook.

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US Takes Fight To Islamic State Militants

What We Know About The IS Capital Raqqa

Updated: 9:28am UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

Raqqa in northern Syria is Islamic State's power base and the focus of international efforts to defeat the Islamic extremists and rescue western hostages.

The city - effectively the capital of the IS "caliph" - is almost completely inaccessible to journalists and Westerners - but information can be gleaned from IS propaganda videos, residents who have managed to flee and an underground resistance network that posts videos and reports online.

:: Raqqa is the highly-organised capital of the jihadists' Islamic caliphate

IS captured Raqqa amid fierce fighting in May 2013 but has maintained a hold on the city by setting up a functioning government and public services. Military operations and civilian administration are run separately, with fighters and employees getting a salary from the "Muslim Financial House" department. IS has claimed the poor are effectively paid benefits, while taxes are imposed on the wealthy and prices are kept low in the markets. Foreign experts have been recruited to run ministries - a Tunisian with a PhD in charge of telecoms, an Egyptian engineer serving as oil minister.

:: The city is the centre of the search for Jihadi John

Raqqa is believed to be where IS are holding some 20 international hostages, including Briton Alan Henning, and intelligence efforts to save them are focused on the city. Experts and a small resistance movement within the city have matched up photos and video footage to pinpoint the location on the outskirts of the city where they believe James Foley was beheaded. They suggest the killings took place on open ground near a cemetery, not far from the city's Alltihad University.

:: IS are thought to be using a network of tunnels under the city

The hunt for the hostages and their captors has been frustrated due to the suspected use by IS of a network of underground tunnels to move around the city. IS are believed to move the hostages between safe locations regularly and the group's leaders, including Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, rarely stay in one place for more than a day or two.

:: Foreign fighters have "flooded" the city

A jihadist boasted to Reuters this month that Raqqa was welcoming 1,000 new IS volunteers every three days, many of them from abroad. Fighters with South African, French, Dutch, Australian and of course British accents have appeared in videos or on social media praising life under the Islamic State. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation claims Glaswegian Aqsa Mahmood is a key figure in the al Khanssaa brigade, a female militia set up to punish women for "non-Islamic" behaviour.

:: The Hisbah police keep the people in check

The hisbah - clad in a distinctive uniform of white thobe with black waistcoats and black caps - patrol the streets with Kalashnikovs slung over their backs, enforcing strict Sharia law in the previously cosmopolitan city. They police everything from the price of beef in markets to female dress and follow up on reports of residents suspected of using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Attendance at prayers is rigidly enforced, with jihadists boasting of emptying once busy markets five times a day. Anyone who crosses the hisbah faces immediate imprisonment and punishment according to Sharia law - from whipping for alcohol sellers to public execution for drug users.

:: Children are being drawn into the IS cause

Raqqa is the IS base for preparing the next generation of jihadists. Islamic education groups are held in mosques and festivals have been held to encourage youngsters to sign up to the cause. Children are shown videos of beheadings to inure them to violence and warn them of the consequences of resisting the jihadists. Warda Ali, a female resident who fled Raqqa after resisting IS, told US broadcaster NPR how parents - keen to please their new rulers - brought their children to the town square to watch public beheadings.

:: Resistance - "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently"

A small group of activists have been risking their lives to reveal a true picture of the grim conditions imposed by IS. Under the slogan "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," they post videos and photos of public executions and other punishments meted out by the Islamists, as well as possible locations for IS training camps and the executions of Western hostages. IS have condemned the activists as "enemies of the lord" and reportedly executed one, Motaz Billah, after tracing him through Facebook.

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Australian Special Forces Join Fight Against IS

Australia will send 600 troops - including special forces - and 10 military aircraft to the Middle East to bolster international efforts to fight the "death cult" of Islamic State.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the commitment comes after a formal request from US President Barack Obama for partners in the global coalition against IS.

Mr Abbott said Australia's contribution would include 400 air force personnel and a further 200 military troops.

A contingent of special forces operatives is among those being prepared to assist Iraq's security forces, a statement from Mr Abbott's office confirmed.

Mr Kerry speaks at a press conference in Cairo on Saturday

The contingent could be deployed to the United Arab Emirates as early as this week.

"For some time now the Australian government has been considering how best to respond to the ISIL (Islamic State) movement at home and abroad," Mr Abbott told reporters in Darwin.

"I can advise that we have, within about the last 24 hours, received a specific request from the United States government to contribute forces to possible military action in Iraq.

"The government has decided to prepare and to deploy to the United Arab Emirates a military force, a military force that could, subject to further decisions, contribute to military operations inside Iraq."

It comes as the international community condemned the murder of British aid worker David Haines, who was beheaded by IS militants.

British aid worker David Haines has been murdered by IS extremists

The United States has been seeking to establish a global coalition to fight IS extremists in Iraq and Syria.

On Monday, an international conference will be held in Paris to address the ongoing crisis in Iraq and the threat from the Islamist group.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al Sisi on Saturday as he continued to press the case for striking IS.

The Egyptian president told Mr Kerry that any global coalition should not just battle IS, but also other take on other terror groups.

On Friday Mr Kerry also held a two-hour meeting with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Kerry met Arab foreign ministers in Jeddah last week

Speaking in Ankara, Mr Kerry spoke of a "broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States and others".

Key Arab allies last week promised to "do their share" to fight IS, including stopping the flow of fighters and funding to the militants.

Some 40 countries have so far agreed to contribute to what Mr Kerry says will be a worldwide effort to defeat the militants.

The US has already carried out more than 150 airstrikes in Iraq since early August, including a strike on Friday near the country's largest dam.

The CIA estimates Islamic State has as many as 31,500 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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PM: We Will 'Hunt Down' David Haines' Killers

David Cameron has vowed that Britain will "hunt down" those responsible for the murder of British aid worker David Haines and bring them to justice.

Speaking from Downing Street after chairing a meeting of Cobra, Mr Cameron described Islamic State extremists as "monsters" who are part of a "fanatical organisation".

"We will hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice, no matter how long it takes," Mr Cameron said.

"David Haines was an aid worker. He went into harm's way, not to harm people but to help his fellow human beings in the hour of their direst need, from the Balkans to the Middle East.

"David Haines was a British hero. The fact that an aid worker was taken, held and brutally murdered at the hand of Islamic State sums up what this organisation stands for.

A man wearing black addresses David Cameron in the video

"They boast of their brutality. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense - Islam is a religion of peace."

Earlier in the day Mr Cameron held emergency talks with senior representatives of the military, the security services, the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

He returned to Downing Street shortly after midnight when IS released a video which showed Mr Haines' death.

Government sources say the death will not change Britain's policy and Parliament will not be recalled.

But Mr Cameron said Britain's security depends upon taking action against the extremists.

Mr Haines has been described as a 'British hero' (Pic: Lance Baldwin)

"It must strengthen our resolve. We must recognise that it will take time to eradicate a threat like this. It will require, as I have described, action at home and abroad," he said.

"This is not something we can do on our own. We have to work with the rest of the world.

"Ultimately, our security as a nation, the way we go about our everyday lives in this free and tolerant society that is Britain, has always depended on our readiness to act against those who stand for hatred and who stand for destruction."

Mr Haines was taken hostage in Syria last year

The footage of Mr Haines' death shows a knife-wielding militant who speaks with a British accent.

The clip also includes a threat to kill a second hostage, later named as Alan Henning, who was a volunteer on an aid convoy.

In the video, Mr Haines looks into the camera and makes a statement, holding Mr Cameron responsible for his own "execution".

In the statement, which appears to have been made under duress, he said: "You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend against our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say 'no' to the Americans.

"Unfortunately it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions."

Mr Cameron returned to Downing Street for crisis talks

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "All the signs are that the video is genuine. We have no reason to believe it is not."

The aid agency that Mr Haines was working for when he was taken hostage in 2013 said it was "appalled and horrified" by the killing.

"ACTED strongly condemns with the utmost of force these crimes. In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family, friends and loved ones," the agency said.

The killing comes just weeks after American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were beheaded by Islamic State (IS). Those deaths were also filmed, and the videos were released on the internet.

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Hollande: Threat From Islamic State Is Global

International efforts to combat Islamic State militants have taken on an added urgency after the beheading of a British aid worker and the threat to kill a second UK hostage.

The brutal murder of David Haines comes amid moves to form a broad coalition against the terror group which has grabbed large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is attending a summit - spearheaded by French President Francois Hollande and Iraqi President Fuad Masum in Paris this morning - bringing together 30 countries to co-ordinate a response to the IS threat.

Mr Hollande opened the summit warning: "The terrorist threat is global and the response must be global... There is no time to lose."

Mr Masum told delegates there was a need for a "quick response"  to the Islamist group which he said had "committed massacres and genocidal crimes".

Mr Hammond and US Secretary Of State John Kerry arriving in Paris

Prince Saud al Faisal, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, and representatives of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are also among the delegates at the conference.

Ahead of the talks, Washington said several countries in the Middle East had offered to join airstrikes against the militants, while Australia said it would send aircraft and personnel and France announced it would begin reconnaissance missions over Iraq.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who is under pressure to act following the killing of Mr Haines, has given no indication over whether he would commit military forces to airstrikes.

Mr Haines was taken hostage in Syria last year

Video footage of the British aid worker's death showed a knife-wielding militant who speaks with a British accent.

The clip also included a threat to kill a second hostage, Alan Henning, who was a volunteer on an aid convoy.

It follows the beheadings of two American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

Mr Cameron vowed to "hunt down" the "monsters" who killed Mr Haines, and said the crime would "strengthen our resolve" to smash the extremist network which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Mr Cameron has vowed to 'hunt down' the 'monsters' who killed Mr Haines

He said the UK would seek to "mobilise the broadest possible support to bear down" on IS at the United Nations.

"This is not about British combat troops on the ground, it is about working with others to extinguish this terrorist threat," he said.

"As this strategy intensifies we are ready to take whatever steps are necessary to deal with this threat and keep our country safe."

A central part of the plan is to engage Arab countries in the coalition

Explaining Mr Cameron's dilemma, Sky's Chief Political Correspondent Jon Craig said: "He tried to get a vote in Parliament last year on missile strikes on Syria.

"Thirty or so Conservative MPs voted against, as did Labour, and he lost the vote. He was humiliated. So he doesn't particularly want to go down that route again."

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is also in Paris and has been touring the Middle East to rally support, told CBS: "We have countries in this region, countries outside of this region, in addition to the United States, all of whom are prepared to engage in military assistance, in actual strikes if that is what it requires."

However, Iraq's president has said it is "not necessary" for Arab powers to join airstrikes against Islamic State.

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Ukraine PM: Putin Wants All Of Our Country

Ukraine's prime minister has accused Russia of seeking to to control all of the country and restore the Soviet Union.

Addressing business leaders at a conference in Kiev, Arseny Yatseniuk warned President Vladimir Putin was a threat to global order and added that only Nato could offer Ukraine proper protection.

"We are still in a stage of war and the key aggressor is the Russian Federation," he said. "His (Putin's) goal is to take all of Ukraine. Russia is a threat to the global order and to the security of the whole of Europe."

A Russian aid convoy drives through a Russia-Ukraine border crossing

Kiev and the West have accused Moscow of sending Russian troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine in support of pro-Russian rebels fighting a bitter war with government forces.

A fragile ceasefire appears to be holding in the region, despite sporadic reports of outbreaks of violence, and Ukrainian troops and rebels exchanged prisoners on Friday.

The transfer of 67 prisoners of war, said to include Russian citizens serving alongside the rebels, took place near the separatist stronghold of Donetsk under the watch of international observers.

People waiting to cross the border from Russia and walk into Ukraine

The prisoner exchange was a key pillar of Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko's argument that his country can benefit from formulating a deal with the rebels.

Asked about the possibility of his country being admitted to the Nato alliance, which would create further rifts between the West and Russia, Mr Yatseniuk conceded it was unlikely Ukraine would be allowed in any time soon.

But Kiev has stepped-up co-operation with Nato and worked hard to persuade alliance states to provide arms and equipment to use against the rebels.

Ukrainian prisoners-of-war wait to be exchanged, north of Donetsk

Meanwhile, another humanitarian-aid convoy has reached the rebel-held city of Luhansk will ease the plight of civilians caught up in the fighting, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Some 100 vehicles arrived on Saturday morning with another 100 expected to reach the city later in the day. It is the second such aid convoy dispatched by Moscow into Ukraine.

A convoy sent in August was denounced by Kiev and the West for crossing the Russia-Ukraine border without permission.

A senior human rights official with the United Nations has declared the death toll in the conflict is likely to be above 3,000 if the victims of the MH17 plane crash are included.

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Pakistan Blows Up Dykes To Divert Floodwaters

Military specialists have blown up dykes in central Pakistan to divert swollen rivers after rising floodwaters killed hundreds of people in Kashmir.

Authorities have been using helicopters and boats to evacuate people who have been left stranded by the floods, which were triggered by heavy monsoon rains earlier this month.

The breaches were made in dykes on the overflowing Chenab River. Pakistani news channels showed footage of the floodwaters rushing through the dykes.

Pakistani residents gather on high ground in Sher Shah

Some 280 people have been killed and a further 500 injured by the flooding in the Pakistani-controlled region of Kashmir.

Another 200 people have died in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where the floodwaters have partly receded, allowing many to return home.

Pakistan's military said is it carrying out food drops in the districts of Multan, Muzaffargarh and Jhang, while army medical teams are treating injured patients.

Medical teams in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-held Kashmir, have stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.

Elsewhere in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the army has evacuated nearly 150,000 people whose homes were flooded.

Troops and army engineers are also working to restore the vital Jammu-Srinagar highway, which links Indian Kashmir to the rest of the country.

Flood victims stand beside their belongings in Multan, in Punjab province

The highway has been shut for the past 10 days due to landslides and fallen rocks.

Heavy monsoon rains hit another mountainous region of Pakistan in 2010, killing 1,700 people.

Pakistan-administered Kashmir also suffered a devastating earthquake in 2005 which killed 73,000 people.

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Hostage David Haines' Murder 'Evil', PM Says

David Cameron has condemned the beheading of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State, describing it as an "act of pure evil".

A video released by the militant organisation shows 44-year-old father of two Mr Haines being murdered.

In a statement put out by Downing Street, Mr Cameron says: "This is a despicable and appalling murder of an innocent aid worker. It is an act of pure evil.

"My heart goes out to the family of David Haines who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude throughout this ordeal.

"We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes."

Mr Haines' brother Mike said his sibling was "just another bloke" who "helped whoever needed help" until he was murdered "in cold blood".

David Cameron returned to Downing Street with his head bowed

Mr Haines was thought to have been held captive by militant group Islamic State after being kidnapped from a Syrian refugee camp near the border with Turkey last year.

Mr Cameron has returned to Downing Street and will chair a Cobra meeting today at 10am with representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office.

The release of the video came hours after Mr Haines' family urged his captors to contact them.

In the video, the victim looks into the camera and makes a statement, holding Mr Cameron responsible for his own "execution".

In the statement, which appears to have been made under duress, he said: "You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend against our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say 'no' to the Americans.

"Unfortunately it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions."

A man dressed in black addresses David Cameron in the video

A spokesperson from the FCO said: "All the signs are that the video is genuine. We have no reason to believe it is not."

The killing comes just weeks after American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were beheaded by Islamic State (IS). Those deaths were also filmed, and the videos were released on the internet.

In the new video, a man dressed in black stood behind Mr Haines. The man seemed to speak with an English accent.

After Mr Haines finished his statement, the man said: "This British man has to pay the price for your promise, Cameron, to arm the peshmerga against the Islamic State.

"Your evil alliance with America which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha Dam will only accelerate your destruction."

David Haines worked as an aid worker

"If you, Cameron, persist in fighting the Islamic State then you like your master Obama will have the blood of your people on your hands."

Another man who Sky News is not naming, said by IS to be British, then appears at the end of the video and is threatened with being killed.

The Foreign Office said Mr Haines' family wished to be left alone.

US President Barack Obama has put out a statement saying: "Our hearts go out to the family of Mr Haines and to the people of the United Kingdom.

"The United States stands shoulder to shoulder tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and resolve."

France strongly condemned the murder and called for an international mobilisation to fight the Islamist group.

"The heinous murder of David Haines shows once again how the international community must mobilise against Daesh," the French presidency said in statement, referring to the Arabic acronym for IS.

The murders have prompted a number of commentators to call for swift and firm action. Former head of the Army Lord Dannatt said the UK should respond by playing its role in the assault against IS promised by Mr Obama.

"What we absolutely need to do is not be cowed in any way by yet another foul murder of a hostage," he said.

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Islamic State May Have 31,500 Fighters, Says CIA

The Islamic State (IS) may have as many as 31,500 fighters in Syria and Iraq - three times higher than previously feared, the CIA believes.

A review of intelligence reports from May to August estimates the militant group can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 jihadists, up from a previous figure of 10,000, it said.

The new total reflects stronger recruitment by IS after its military successes and declaration of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, said CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is pressing Arab states to support an expanded American military campaign against IS, including airstrikes in Syria.

On Thursday, key Arab allies promised to "do their share" to fight IS, including stopping the flow of fighters and funding to the militants, but Nato member Turkey refused to join in.

The 10 Middle East allies announced their backing for a strategy to "destroy" the group "wherever it is, including in both Iraq and Syria," following a meeting with Mr Kerry in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

John Kerry with Arab foreign ministers in Jeddah

Nearly 40 countries have agreed to contribute to what Mr Kerry said would be a worldwide fight to defeat the militants, however Germany said it would not take part in airstrikes.

"The devastating consequences of extremist hate remain fresh in the minds of all Americans, and to so many of our friends and allies around the world," said Mr Kerry on the 13th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.

"Those consequences are felt every day here in the Middle East."

Moscow said any unilateral US airstrikes in Syria would be a violation of international law.

"In the absence of an appropriate decision of the UN Security Council, such a step would become an act of aggression, a crude violation of the norms of international law," said a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry.

Turkey attended the Jeddah meeting, but did not sign the final agreement over fears for 49 Turkish citizens kidnapped from its consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul when it was overrun by IS in June.

Some Gulf states could in theory help with US airstrikes, as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar did in the aerial campaign over Libya in 2011, as well as assisting with weapons, training, intelligence and logistics.

America has launched more than 150 airstrikes in Iraq over the past month, and has sent military advisers into the country.

It also announced on Friday nearly $500m (£307m) in humanitarian aid for people and countries hit by Syria's civil war.

Some three million Syrian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries, but many remain trapped by the IS onslaught, says the UN.

On Monday, officials from the US, UK, France, Russia and China, and possibly other countries including Iran, are due to hold talks in Paris on how to stabilise Iraq.

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