Islamic State terrorists last night released a fourth propaganda video featuring British hostage John Cantlie, in which he blamed the UK government for beheadings by jihadis in Syria.

In a video clip posted online, the abducted photojournalist told how the terror group ‘eagerly awaited’ a ground war with America and its allies. He also accuses western governments of spending millions of pounds on ‘Hollywood-style’ military action instead of paying ransoms to his captors.

In the chilling 6min 53sec film, Mr Cantlie said he expected to be executed, adding ‘I await my turn.’ In a further development, in a long article apparently written by Mr Cantlie for IS’s Dabiq magazine, he insists he writes the scripts to the videos in which he appears.

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Captive: A still from the newly-released video of British Hostage John Cantlie. The photojournalist has been a captive of IS for two years

In last night’s professionally-produced video, the 43-year-old captive – wearing a Guantanamo Bay-style orange jumpsuit – said a battle against the fanatics where no one ‘gets their hands dirty’ was impossible. So far, a 40-nation coalition led by the US and including Britain as well as Arab nations have carried out air strikes while ruling out combat troops.

Mr Cantlie, who appeared to be delivering the message under duress, added that the beheading videos were a ‘win-win’ for the militant group.

However, it appears the film was shot before the murder of Alan Henning. Delivering scripted lines, Mr Cantlie said the decapitation of ‘three previous cellmates’ by Islamic State fanatics had shocked the public.

But taxi driver Mr Henning was the fourth Western hostage to be executed, after US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.

Mr Cantlie, a photojournalist who has worked for newspapers including The Sunday Times, has featured in several propaganda videos released by the Islamic extremists in recent weeks

Hostage: An article allegedly written by British hostage John Cantlie, pictured in an online video has been published by Islamic State militants

It includes a photograph of Mr Cantlie, 43, appearing to wear the now-familiar orange outfit worn by other IS hostages, and it is not clear how much the hostage was acting under duress when, or even if, he wrote it.

It is slickly put together, in a propaganda magazine designed to inflame the feelings of IS followers.

Describing Mr Cantlie as 'nobody going nowhere', the article says he is sleeping on a matress on the floor of a 'clean and comfortable' room, which 'for a man in my position, it is enough'.

It states: 'Four of my cellmates have already been executed by the Islamic State in the most visceral way possible after the British and American governments apparently made a joint decision not to discuss terms for our release with our captors.

Familiar: The article includes a photograph of Mr Cantlie appearing to wear the now-familiar orange outfit worn by him in previous videos and by other IS hostages

Mr Cantlie said: ‘If these executions force public outcry or a policy change, that is a huge victory. And if they only goad our governments into dropping more bombs and spending millions more dollars, making our countries weaker in the process, that is a victory too.’

Magazine: The article appeared in propaganda magazine Dabiq

Mr Cantlie – kidnapped two years ago – said IS would ‘passionately and violently’ outlast any action ordered by Barack Obama: ‘Anyone hoping for a nice neat surgical operation without getting their hands dirty is in for a horrible surprise once it gets under way.’

He added: ‘One month ago Obama pressed the button on air strikes.

Now we have to wonder how long his policy of no boots on the ground has left to live. As for IS, they eagerly await to see those boots.’

Mr Cantlie said on the video – introduced with the title Lend Me Your Ears – that it was conceivable foreign jihadis could return to their home countries to carry out attacks.

He also says David Cameron chose not to enter negotiations with Islamic State that might have got the hostages out, and is now using the beheadings as an excuse to ‘beat the drums’ for military action against Muslims.

He added: ‘I deeply resent it, Prime Minister. Thanks a lot.’

In the article published online in Dabiq magazine, Mr Cantlie calls on the Government to negotiate his release.

A Foreign Office spokesman said it was analysing the article and video.

A team from the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment have gone to Iraq to train Kurds in their fight against IS five years after the last British troops withdrew from the country.

HOSTAGE'S SERIOUSLY ILL FATHER BEGS IS FROM HOSPITAL BED Earlier this month Mr Cantlie's sick father issued a heartbreaking plea from a hospital bed for his son’s release. In a direct televised appeal to Islamic State, Paul Cantlie, 80, who has throat cancer, asked his jihadist captors to return him home safely to those who love him. He said his efforts to communicate with the militants had only been met with silence and he could only hope they had received them. Speaking about watching the original footage of his son, he said: ‘For the first time in almost two years, we saw John when he made a televised broadcast during which he told viewers that he was still a prisoner of the Islamic State and that maybe he will live and maybe he will die. ‘As a family we experienced great relief seeing and hearing John and knowing that he is alive. This was followed by the feeling of despair and helplessness.’ Addressing his son’s captors, he said: ‘To those holding John: please know that he is a good man, he sought only to help the Syrian people and I ask you from all that is sacred, to help us and allow him to return home safely to those he loves and those who love him.’ Advertisement

Smoke rises after a strike on the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobane by the Kurds, as seen from the Turkish-Syrian border. IS are now poised to take the town, despite desperate fighting from Kurdish resistance

Flying high: The black flag of ISIS flies over the Kurdish Syrian Town of Kobane. Turkey has yet to intervene militarily, angering the Kurd community