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Nato summit Wales: Isil and Ukraine top agenda - latest

• Biden: US will follow terrorists to 'gates of Hell'

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Nato summit Wales: Isil and Ukraine top agenda - latest

21.30 AFP has a little more detail on the announcement from al-Qaeda central about its new Indian branch.

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri declared Wednesday in a video message that the global Islamist extremist movement has launched a new branch to lead its struggle in the Indian sub-continent.

In the video, found in online jihadist forums by the SITE terrorism monitoring group, Zawahiri said the new force would "crush the artificial borders" dividing Muslim populations in the region.

Al-Qaeda is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where its surviving leadership are thought to be hiding out, but Zawahiri said "Qaedat al-Jihad" would take the fight to India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

"This entity was not established today but is the fruit of a blessed effort of more than two years to gather the mujahedeen in the Indian sub-continent into a single entity," he said.

20.55 Iraq and the US have just signed an agreement to combat nuclear and radioactive smuggling. It's basically a deal to help strengthen the Iraqi government's ability to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists, an urgent priority given the chaos in the country. According to the State Department:

Iraq’s central location and the challenging security environment it faces reinforce the urgency with which these problems must be addressed.

20.35 Philip Sherwell reports that one of the dead American jihadists was apparently allowed to work at a Minnesota airport.

The employment history of an American jihadist killed while fighting for Islamic State forces in Syria is causing some consternation in the US.

Just a week ahead of the anniversary of the 9/11 airplane terror attacks, it is being reported that Abdirahmaan Muhumed once had security clearance to clean commercial aircraft at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Muhumed was a Somali-American father-of-nine from Minnesota who was killed in battle the weekend before last alongside another US extremist, also from the same state.

The local Fox 9 News affiliate has been digging into Muhamed’s past. And it reports: “Multiple sources [tell the network] that, for a time, he worked at a job that gave him security clearance at the airport, access to the tarmac and unfettered access to planes.”

Two former employees told the station that they once worked with Muhumed at Delta Global Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines.

A Delta spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the report and are in communication with law enforcement."

20.10 There's been some confusion about Obama's explanation of the US mission against IS. At one point this morning he said the goal was "to degrade and destroy" the jihadist group but another he was said he wanted to reduce to it "a manageable problem".

Which raised the question: is the goal to destroy IS or contain it?

Chuck Hagel, the US secretary of defence, has said it's the former. "It's not containment, its exactly what the President said: degrade and destroy".

19.50 The State Department says the US government learned about the Sotloff video when it burst into public yesterday. They're also dismissing theories that Sotloff and Foley were killed at the same time and Sotloff's video was just held back by IS and released later for maximum impact. The US believes Foley was killed first and Sotloff some time later.

<noframe>Twitter: Hannah Allam - State Dept: The video that appeared yesterday was shot after the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23Foley" target="_blank">#Foley</a> video. Videos not shot at same time; <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23Sotloff" target="_blank">#Sotloff</a> killed after Foley.</noframe>

Beyond that, State Department isn't able to give to give much detail about the US intelligence analysis of the video.

19.45 Paddy Ashdown on the West's coalition-building effort

<noframe>Twitter: Paddy Ashdown - If the West acts alone on ISIL it will fail. It has to be an international coalition including moderate Arabs, iran and possibly even Russia</noframe>

19.30 Diane Foley, the mother of the murdered journalist James Foley, said both her son and Steven Sotloff were "martyrs".

I think it's symbolic their names James and Steven, both martyrs in our church for love, for goodness," said Mrs Foley, a Catholic. "I really feel in their way Jim and Steven are also our martyrs. I just beg the world that they might not have died in vain."

Mrs Foley has spoken regularly to Shirley Sotloff, Mr Sotloff's mother, during the time their sons were in captivity.

We send all of our love and hugs to them. Unfortunately, They're sharing the pain we are. We just ask the world to embrace them as the world has embraced us. It's helped us so much and we appeal to the international community to protect the remaining hostages.

Mrs Foley described both journalists as courageous young Americans trying to share all of the suffering of the people in the Middle East with us."

19.10 John Kerry is heading to the Middle East after the Nato summit to rally allies against IS. Speaking in Washington just now he said the 1991 coalition assembled by George HW Bush to confront Saddam Hussein during the First Gulf War remains the "gold standard" for assembling nations against a common threat. Worth remembering that that coalition included Syria under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad's father.

18.50 Matthew Olsen, the director of the US national counter-terrorism centre, said earlier that IS's prowess on the battlefield and success in drawing in foreign fighters means it is threatening "to outpace al-Qaeda as the dominant voice of influence in the global extremist movement".

Perhaps the new kid on the block has the old hands at al-Qaeda rattled because they have apparently just announced a new franchise in India.

<noframe>Twitter: SITE Intel Group - Al-Qaeda announced the creation of "Qaedat al-Jihad in the Indian Subcontinent".</noframe>

According to SITE, the US intelligence group that first broke the news of Sotloff's murder, the announcement was made by al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, the aging Egyptian who took over the terror group following the death of Osama bin Laden.

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17.45 Italy should be able to start deliveries of weapons to Kurdish forces by next week, once final arrangements with Iraqi authorities are completed, Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti told parliament today, Reuters reports.

Along with other European countries, including Germany and France, Italy has agreed to send Kurdish forces a quantity of light weapons to use against Islamic State militants who have swept into northern Iraq.

The weapons, including 200 machine guns and 2,000 rocket propelled grenades as well as 950,000 rounds of ammunition will come from both its own surplus military stocks as well as from stocks of Soviet-made weapons confiscated during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

17.44 The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) controls an area the size of Britain and has command of 10,000 fighters but is "not invincible", one of America's top counter-terrorism officials said, Raf Sanchez in Washington reports.

Matthew Olsen, director of the national counter-terrorism centre, laid out a detailed assessment of the jihadists' strength, saying the group took in $1 million (£600,000) a day from oil sales, ransoms, and smuggling.

"It views itself as the new leader of the global jihadist movement," Mr Olsen said.

He said the problem of foreign fighters "in the United Kingdom is substantially more significant in terms of numbers", noting that around 500 Britons are estimated to have traveled to Syria compared to 100 Americans.

Mr Olsen said the FBI had arrested "more than half a dozen" people seeking to travel from the US to Syria to support IS.

"No terrorist group is invincible," he added, saying the US would continue its bombing campaign and look to rally allies in the Middle East and around the world against Isil.

17.33 Evidence indicates that militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) jihadist group executed more than 500 captives in Iraq earlier this year, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, AFP reports.

Around 1,700 soldiers surrendered to Isil in June after its fighters seized second city Mosul and swept south towards Baghdad.

Isil subsequently released photographs of dozens of men in civilian clothes apparently being executed by firing squad in desert areas, and said it had killed hundreds in total.

"Information from a survivor and analysis of videos and satellite imagery has confirmed the existence of three more mass execution sites, bringing the total to five, and the number of dead to between 560 and 770 men, all or most of them apparently captured Iraqi army soldiers," HRW said.

17.09 The European Union says it is "more committed than ever" to the international fight against the Islamic State after the murder of US journalist Steven Sotloff by the jihadist group, AFP reports.

"The outrageous murder of the American journalist Steven Sotloff is another demonstration of the ISIL's determination to pursue and extend its terror strategy," the 28-nation bloc said in a statement from Brussels.

16.35 Sotloff was the grandson of Holocaust survivors and secretly observed Jewish holy days by deceiving his fanatical Islamic captors and pretending to be sick so that he could fast, we are now learning, The Telegraph's Philip Sherwell in New York reports.

His Jewish faith had been kept secret during captivity but the details, sadly, can now be made public. His mother Shirley, who explained how she had studied the tenets of Islam when she made her emotional video plea for his life, is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and teaches at a Jewish school in Miami.

Her son took Israeli citizenship when he studied in the country – information that was only cleared for publication by the country’s foreign ministry after the video of his execution emerged.

And New York magazine reports on his subterfuge to observe holy days.

"Former captives said that he continued observing Jewish holy days and praying while in ISIS custody. One told a Hebrew-language paper that he fasted on Yom Kippur by pretending to be ill, and prayed toward Jerusalem by observing the direction in which his Muslim captors prayed."

16.06 John Kerry has described the killing of Steven Sotloff as "an act of medieval savagery by a coward hiding behind a mask". Raf Sanchez reports:

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has now released a statement and appeared briefly before the cameras to condemn what he called "an act of medieval savagery by a coward hiding behind a mask".

A strong image but it's worth comparing Kerry's words today to what he said after the death of James Foley in late August.

Then it was:

<noframe>Twitter: John Kerry - ISIL must be destroyed/will be crushed.</noframe>

Today it's: "The United States will hold them accountable too no matter how long it takes."

It is a significantly more measured tone, in line with President Obama's earlier statement that American policy is to reduce IS to "a manageable problem".

Kerry was also at pains to stress that the US government had tried to rescue Sotloff, Foley and the other hostages amid criticism that the White House hasn't done enough.

"For so many who worked so long to bring Steven and other Americans home safety, this obviously was not how the story was meant to end. It’s a punch to the gut. And the United States government I want you to know has used every single military, diplomatic and intelligence tool that we have."

15.51 Isil jihadists have issued a video threatening Vladimir Putin, pledging to wage war on Russia and "liberate" Islamic areas of the Caucasus including restive Chechnya, the Moscow Times reports:

A video released by Al Arabiya and reportedly filmed in a seized airport in the Syrian province of Raqqa features an Islamic State fighter seated in a military jet, saying: "This message is for you, Vladimir Putin! These are the aircraft you sent to Bashar [Assad], and we're going to send them to you. Remember that!"

The voice of a Russian speaker can also be heard in the video, describing the jets seized by Islamic State fighters. "This is Russian technology," he says.

"We will with the consent of Allah free Chechnya and all of the Caucasus! The Islamic State is here and will stay here, and it will spread with the grace of Allah!" a fighter is shown saying in the video, which is available on YouTube with Russian subtitles.

This is thought to be the first time members of the group have personally taunted the Russian president.

15.21 There was a "note of steel" in Barack Obama's words this morning on the murder of Steven Sotloff, but the US president also urged patience in the fight against Isil, reports the Telegraph's Peter Foster:

There was a new note of steel in the voice of Barack Obama this morning when he addressed the “barbaric” murder of Steven Sotloff, promising that America would not forget and that “justice will be served” against his killers.

But Mr Obama has never been a man to rush to judgment and despite pressure at home to step up air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), the president made clear that he is still determined to play a long game.

He did not threaten an immediate increase in the tempo of “limited” air strikes to assuage the anger of America, but instead asked the American public and the world to prepare for a long-haul fight against this most nihilist brand of Islamist insurgency.

“It’s going to take time for us to be able to roll them back,” Mr Obama warned, before breaking the mission to “degrade and destroy” Isil into two distinct parts – the formation of an inclusive Iraqi government, followed by a broad-based assault against Isil.

The first phase was making good progress, Mr Obama contended, but the second phase involving Nato and US allies like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE as well as Sunni tribes in Iraq would much take longer.

Full story: Barack Obama vows justice for Steven Sotloff, but urges patience in taking fight to Isil

15.05 John Kerry vowed the US will deliver justice for the murders of James Foley and Steven Sotloff and would "hold them accountable too, no matter how long it takes".

For so many who worked so long to bring Steven and the other Americans home safely, this was not how the story should've ended. It's a punch to the gut. The US. Government has used every military, diplomatic, and intelligence tool we have, and we always will.

When terrorists anywhere around the world have murdered our citizens, the United States held them accountable, no matter how long it took. And those who have murdered James Foley and Steven Sotloff in Syria should know that the United States will hold them accountable too, no matter how long it takes.

15.03 John Kerry, US secretary of state, has released a statement expressing his sorrow for the Sotloff family and condemning the "medieval savagery" and coward behaviour of his killers.

Yesterday, the world bore witness again to the unfathomable brutality of ISIL terrorist murderers when we saw Steven Sotloff, an American journalist who left home in Florida to tell the story of brave people in the Middle East, taken from us in an act of medieval savagery by a coward hiding behind a mask.

There are no words strong enough to express the sorrow we feel for his family, particularly his mother, whose heartbreaking video plea spoke to every single parent who has ever worried about a son or daughter who goes to dangerous places to do the work they love.

Steven Sotloff's reporting was as empathetic as his killers are evil. He focused on the stories of average people trapped in war, and documented their day-in and day-out struggle for dignity.

14.26 Hostage negotiation expert and psychologist James Alvarez is speaking now on BBC News:

I completely understand the US and GB's non-negotiation policy... if they did [negotiate], no nationals from those countries would be safe again. It's a long term mistake that other countries have paid ransoms... at that point you become vulnerable, and those governments become hostages themselves

14.18 Following David Cameron's reaffirmation earlier today at Prime Minister's Questions that Britain - like the US - will not pay ransoms for hostages, the Telegraph's Con Coughlin explains why it is better to destroy Isil terrorists than negotiate with them:

After all the Government's vacillations over whether to bomb the Assad regime, or the rebels it is fighting, I can detect the first tentative signs of something approaching a policy emerging within the corridors of Whitehall.

It has taken the prospect of a British hostage being murdered to galvanise it into action, but it now seems the Coalition grasps the seriousness of the situation it has allowed to develop in Syria and Iraq, and is finally prepared to do something about it...

We must accept that the Islamist fanatics who are carrying out these atrocities are nothing more than terrorists, and should be treated as such. We must stick to our principles of not negotiating with terrorists – no matter how great the threat – and do everything in our power to destroy them.

Let them feel the full force of our revulsion at their conduct, and make sure they are never in again in a position to challenge the fundamental tenets of civilised conduct.

US freelance journalist Steven Sotloff during a work trip in Manama near Lulu Roundabout in 2010 (EPA)

14.00 Tributes to Steven Sotloff are flooding in from America this morning. Here are just a few examples compiled by CNN and the Wall Street Journal:

Emerson Lotzia, who lived with Sotloff in college:

[Sotloff was] someone you want in your circle of friends -- just a good, good guy

Tim Smith, another college friend:

An incredible writer... I know reporting on an international level is what he always wanted to do.

Lee Smith, senior fellow at Hudson Institute in Washington DC, who met Sotloff in the Middle East:

Very brave and very imaginative and very sweet... I was very impressed by the work that he was doing

Yasmin Al Tellawy, a friend of Sotloff who has covered the conflict in Syria:

He's a shy, sweet guy... He's not like the typical war junkie, front-line journalist. He cared about people. He cared about colleagues and friends.

Steven Sotloff (Centre with black helmet) talks to Libyan rebels on the Al Dafniya front line in Misrata, Libya, 2011 (ETIENNE DE MALGLAIVE/GETTY)

13.45 Former Labour security minister Admiral Lord West says Britain should be allowed to use "everything in its armoury as a nation" against Islamic State.

13.02 More detail from Reuters on the US's plan to send top diplomats to the Middle East to help build a coalition against Isil:

Obama [is] sending three top officials -- Secretary of State John Kerry, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco -- to the Middle East "in the near-term to build a stronger regional partnership" against Islamic State militants.

12.56 Dan Hodges asks why Britain isn't supporting US air strikes against Isil:

“officials in the US believe that 'Britain and Australia would be willing to join the United States in an air campaign'”. Two days ago the Guardian reported that ministers were “weighing” joining air strikes. Monday afternoon’s statement by the Prime Minister was widely interpreted as “raising the prospect” the of air strikes.

But for some reason we are continuing to hold back. And I don’t understand why.

It can’t be operational. We have the capability to conduct combat missions over Iraq. We have already deployed between six and eight Tornadoes to conduct reconnaissance over the country, and then can easily be reconfigured for a ground attack role.

Downing Street has said that no request has been received from the United States or the Iraqi authorities for assistance in joining in attacks on Isil. But that seems to conflict with what the Australian PM Tony Abbott has just told the Australian parliament. Australia had received a “general request” surrounding a potential military role in Iraq and is “considering what we may be able to make available”, he said.

12.41 As PMQs wrap up there, a look back at some strong words of condemnation of Isil by both David Cameron and Ed Miliband:

<noframe>Twitter: Steven Swinford - David Cameron: A country like ours will not be cowed by these barbaric killers. We will be more forthright in the values we hold dear.</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Ed Miliband - We've all been disgusted by the murder of Steven Sotloff. Our thoughts are with his family and those of the British hostage being held <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23PMQs" target="_blank">#PMQs</a></noframe>

12.39 There will be a full day's Commons debate on Wednesday next week to discuss threats to Britain caused from world's troublespots, reveals David Cameron

12.36 Ming Campbell asks about ransom payments for hostages, pointing out that such payments fund terrorists' arms and training.

David Cameron's response:

My honourable friend is 100 per cent right. I have no doubt that the many tens of millions Isil have raised from ransoms go into promoting terrorism, including affecting terrorism our own country.

I launched a G8 initiative to get other countries to sign up... Britain continues with this policy, America continues with this policy but we need to redouble the efforts to make sure that other countries are good to their word.

12.32 British people feel those who travel to the Middle East to fight for jihad should be stripped of their citizenship, says Cameron.

12.30 Cameron is asked about airstrikes on Isil in Syria and even cooperating with Assad to fight the jihadists:

I would argue Assad's brutality has helped to generate the appalling Isil regime

We want to see... democratic govermnets that are pluralistic... that is why we support Abadi in Iraq...

<noframe>Twitter: Faisal Islam - Peter hain calls for air strikes against ISIL in Syria... And government engagement with Iran: <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23pmqs" target="_blank">#pmqs</a></noframe>

12.25 David Cameron is asked about further support for Christians in Iraq.

We should work with the Kurds and others so Isil can be beaten back and [Christians and Yazidis] are not persecuted

David Cameron speaks during Prime Minister's Question Time

12.17 The two leaders' determination to show unity against the threat of Isil appears to have bred a rare moment of agreement at PMQs:

<noframe>Twitter: Tom Brake MP - Harmony at <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23pmqs" target="_blank">#pmqs</a> - country united in fighting vile Islamic State ideology.</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Chris Cook - I'm confused by <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23PMQs" target="_blank">#PMQs</a>. Two adults appear to be having a conversation.</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Christopher Hope - Ed Miliband striking the exactly the right tone on Isil threat, turning <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23PMQs" target="_blank">#PMQs</a> into a discussion about what to do rather a row about policies</noframe>

12.10 Britain must go after those who preach extremism, not just those who actively court violence, says Cameron.

<noframe>Twitter: Faisal Islam - PM: anti-ISIL fight "not unlike the Cold War" in challenging those who give ISIL ideological succour</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Christopher Hope - "We will look at the legality" of the new powers proposed by Government to plug holes in armoury to fight terrorism, says Ed Miliband. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23PMQs" target="_blank">#PMQs</a></noframe>

12.07 Cameron says Isil needs to be "squeezed out of existence". He is asked about measures to tackle British jihadists. He says plans to forcibly relocate returning jihadists "will go ahead" despite Lib Dem opposition, and foreign nationals involve in jihad will be blocked at the border.

He says it is better to prosecute and imprison Britons who plan to return to do harm in Britain, but that the government should also have the power to prevent their return to the country.

<noframe>Twitter: Steven Swinford - David Cameron says that Isil's caliphate needs to be 'squeezed out of existence'</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Steven Swinford - David Cameron: It is legal and possible to ban people from coming back to Britain.</noframe>

12.00 David Cameron is now in the House of Commons for prime minister's questions. Both he and Ed Miliband have expressed their outrages at the murder of Steven Sotloff by Isil, and the jihadists' threats against a British hostage.

<noframe>Twitter: Christopher Hope - "A country like ours will not be cowed by barbaric killers" says David Cameron, to supportive murmuring from the House of Commons <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23PMQs" target="_blank">#PMQs</a></noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Steven Swinford - David Cameron: 'We shd see this crisis as one where we are there to help the people on the ground. This is not a Western-led intervention'</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Faisal Islam - PM: thanks miliband refers to "what may happen again in the future" ... Preparing ground for more horrors.</noframe>

11.50 Pope Francis has spoken out against Isil, telling Iraq's beleaguered Christians they are the "heart" of the church and that the church is proud of them, reports AP.

In comments translated into Arabic during his weekly Wednesday general audience, Francis said the Catholic Church is like a mother, and like any mother will "defend her defenceless and persecuted children."

Thousands of Christians have been forced from their homes by Islamic State militants who have carved out a self-styled caliphate in the large area straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border that it now controls.

11.30 Steven Sotloff also held Israeli citizenship, Israel said on Wednesday, after apparently withholding the information in a bid to stem the risks to the captive.

Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry in Jerusalem, wrote on Twitter:

<noframe>Twitter: Paul Hirschson - Cleared for publication: Steven Satloff was <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23Israel" target="_blank">#Israel</a> citizen RIP</noframe>

Sotloff's death was extensively covered by Israeli media, which identified the 31-year-old reporter as Jewish and an occasional contributor, having withheld such observations since Islamic State announced he could be killed two weeks ago.

"We refused to acknowledge any relationship with him in case it was dangerous for him," said Avi Hoffman, editor of the Jerusalem Report magazine, which had published Sotloff's work.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, quoting a former fellow captive, said Sotloff had kept his Judaism a secret from the Islamist insurgents, pretending he was sick when he fasted for the Yom Kippur holiday.

Israeli media reports said the US-born Sotloff immigrated to Israel in 2005 and studied at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a private college near Tel Aviv.

11.04 Theresa May has joined the condemnation of Isil as a "group of murderous psychopaths":

<noframe>Twitter: Tom Whitehead - Theresa May, Home Sec, says murder of Steven Soltoff is "barbaric act by a group of murderous psychopaths"</noframe>

11.00 Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, has told a conference at the Royal United Services Institute: "Yesterday, Isil fanatics appeared to add the sickening killing of US journalist Steven Sotloff to their long litany of savage acts that have been committed."

10.38 If you missed Obama's comments on the US response to the murder of Steven Sotloff you can watch the highlights in the below video clip:

10.35 Obama now needs a strategy for dealing with Isil, and fast, writes The Telegraph's US Editor, Peter Foster:

Mr Obama has shown willingness to act in the past when he ordered the high-risk mission to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, but this crisis tests his mettle in a much deeper way, calling into question the entire effectiveness of his hands-off foreign policy.

His defence secretary Chuck Hagel has described Isil as an “imminent threat to every interest we have” – a characterisation that Mr Obama has thus far rejected, but with which a growing number of the American public will now surely agree.

10.25 Obama says the US's objective is to "degrade and destroy Isil so that it's no longer a threat":

Keep in mind that from the outset, the moment that Isis went into Mosul, we were very clear this was a serious threat not just to Iraq but the region and US interests.

We've been putting forward a strategy... to ensure Americans are protected in Iraq, in our embassies and consulates.

The air strikes that we've conducted have borne fruit, we've seen that in Sinjar mountain and the town of Amerli.

Our objective is clear - to degrade and destroy Isil so that it's no longer a threat, not just to Iraq but also the region and the United States.

The first phase has been to make sure we've got the Iraq government in place and to blunt the momentum... air strikes have done that.

It's not only that we're going to be bringing to justice those who perpetrated this terrible crime against the two fine young men [who were killed].

More broadly the US will continue to lead a regional and international effort against the kind of barbaric and ultimately empty vision that Isil represents.

Our objective is to make sure Isil is not an ongoing threat to the region. We can accomplish that. It's going to take some time and some effort. As we've seen with al-Qaeda there will always be elements that can cause havoc.

US President Barack Obama press conference with his Estonian counterpart Toomas Hendrik (SKY NEWS)

10.10 Barack Obama has just spoken briefly about the US reaction to the murder of Steven Sotloff, and warns Isil that America's "reach is long" and "justice will be served":

Overnight our government determined that tragically Steven was taken from us in an horrific act of violence.

We cannot begin to imagine the agony everyone who loves Steven is feeling right now.

Today our country grieves with them.

Like Jim Foley before him Steve's life stood in sharp contrast to those who murdered him so brutally.

They made the absurd claim they killed in the name of religion but it was Steven who deeply loved the Islamic world...

Whatever these murderers think they will achieve by killing innocent Americans like Steven, they have already failed.

They have failed because, like people round the world, Americans are repulsed by their barbarism. We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve to take the fight against these terrorists.

Those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget, that our reach is long and that justice will be served.

10.05 The Foreign Secretary has raised the prospect of special forces mounting an operation to rescue a British hostage whose life is in the hands of Islamist terrorists. The Telegraph's Matthew Holehouse reports:

The British government will “look at every possible option” to retrieve a British man whose life has been threatened by the terrorist group in Iraq, Philip Hammond said.

A video released yesterday showing Stephen Sotloff, an American journalist, being beheaded is genuine. The voice with a London accent – dubbed Jihadi John - appears to be the same as that in the video showing the murder of James Foley, another American journalist beheaded by Isil.

The Foreign Secretary confirmed that an operation was launched to try to rescue the hostages by US forces, without success.

Ahead of his murder, US special forces attempted to rescue Mr Foley, Mr Sotloff and other hostages in a helicopter-borne raid on a town in Iraq, but the prisoners could not be found.

Asked if Britain will “extricate” the British hostage, Mr Hammond referred to the previous failed attempt to rescue him. He said: “You are aware of course of the rescue attempt that took place some time ago, unfortunately unsuccessfully. You wouldn’t expect me to discuss the various options we will be considering, but I can assure you we will look at every possible option to protect this person.”

10.00 Barack Obama is due to speak shortly in Talinn, Estonia, where he is meeting with Baltic leaders to discuss the Ukraine crisis. Earlier this morning, Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko declared a permanent ceasefire had been agreed in that conflict following talks with Vladimir Putin.

However, Mr Obama is expected to comment also on the killing of Steven Sotloff - he has yet to speak about the video.

You can watch the press conference live at the top of this blog.

09.54 Islamic State's seizure of a British hostage does not make airstrikes on the militants more likely, but said that option is not being ruled out, says Philip Hammond.

It doesn't make any difference at all to our strategic planning

If we judge that air strikes could be beneficial ... then we will certainly consider them. But we have made no decision to do so at the moment.

09.44 British analysis confirms the Islamic State video of the killing of Steven Sotloff is genuine and features the same militant with an apparently British voice, said Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

09.37 The Cobra meeting in London has now finished. Philip Hammond is now speaking to media, and has said there is no change to Britain's overall strategy with regards to Isil following the killing of Steven Sotloff and threat to a British hostage.

He has also confirmed the Telegraph's story last night that the unsuccesful attempt by US forces to free James Foley had also been intended - but failed - to free the British hostage who was threatened on the Sotloff beheading video.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (BBC)

09.35 National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden announced the US intelligence community's assessment of the video as authentic in a statement on Wednesday morning.

"The US Intelligence Community has analyzed the recently released video showing US citizen Steven Sotloff and has reached the judgment that it is authentic," said National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden.

09.20 The video showing the beheading of Steven Sotloff is authentic, the US has said (AP).

08.45 David Cameron is chairing an emergency Cobra meeting this morning with top security officials following the apparent beheading of Steven Sotloff and threat to a British hostage.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and former foreign secretary William Hague were seen arriving at Downing Street for the 8:15am (0715 GMT) meeting.

08.25 John Kerry, the US secretary of state, and Chuck Hegel, the US secretary of defence, are among top US officials on their way to the Middle East to build a "global coalition" against Isil, the White House said last night.

No details of the timing or specific destination of the trip have emerged, but this NY Times op-ed written by Mr Kerry offers some insight into the White House's position on tackling Isil in conjunction with its international allies:

In a polarised region and a complicated world, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [Isil] presents a unifying threat to a broad array of countries, including the United States. What’s needed to confront its nihilistic vision and genocidal agenda is a global coalition using political, humanitarian, economic, law enforcement and intelligence tools to support military force...

With a united response led by the United States and the broadest possible coalition of nations, the cancer of ISIS will not be allowed to spread to other countries. The world can confront this scourge, and ultimately defeat it. ISIS is odious, but not omnipotent. We have proof already in northern Iraq, where United States airstrikes have shifted the momentum of the fight, providing space for Iraqi and Kurdish forces to go on the offensive. With our support, Iraqi leaders are coming together to form a new, inclusive government that is essential to isolating ISIS and securing the support of all of Iraq’s communities.

John Kerry on a previous trip to Saudi Arabia

08.00 Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has refused to rule out "boots on the ground" in Iraq, reports Reuters:

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday declined to rule out sending combat troops to support U.S. air strikes in Iraq, amid a growing confrontation with radical Islamists who have seized large swaths of that country and neighbouring Syria.

Abbott was asked by a journalist whether "boots on the ground" were needed to push back the Islamic State militant group, which on Tuesday released a video purporting to show the beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff.

"Many countries are talking to one another about what is the best way forward here but plainly ISIL is a threat not just to the people of the Middle East, but to the wider world," he said, using an acronym for the Sunni militant group.

07.20 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday morning the world was outraged at the apparent beheading. Speaking in New Zeland, Mr Ban said:

We are all outraged at reports from Iraq about the brutal killing of civilians by Isil, including yesterday's reported brutal beheading of another journalist

I strongly condemn all such despicable crimes and I refuse to accept that whole communities can be threatened by atrocities because of who they are or what they believe

07.10 Although it was almost an exact repeat of the James Foley murder, this latest instalment of Islamist barbarity was perhaps even more chilling, writes our Middle East Correspondent Richard Spencer:

One clear difference with the Foley video is particularly bloodthirsty. The act of killing cuts out almost immediately, but the shot of Mr Sotloff's body is shown from much closer up.

This may be a response to theories circulated last week that the body in the first video was not in fact that of Mr Foley's.

The final shot is again a mirror image: this time it is the Briton who, looking terrified, is being held by the neck and threatened with death. His name is given on the screen, and the warning is directed to potential allies of America in its bombing campaign - including, by inference, Britain.

Full article: After James Foley, this video killing by Islamic State butchers was even more bloodthirsty

06.50 Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the latest developments following the apparent killing of US journalist Steven Sotloff by Islamic State.

Overnight, US president

Barack Obama has ordered more troops to Iraq.

Josie Ensor

President Barack Obama has ordered about 350 more US troops to Baghdad to protect American diplomatic facilities and staff in the Iraqi capital, hours after the beheading of a second US journalist.

The announcement came hours after the so-called "Islamic State" (also known as ISIL) released another video showing a masked militant with a British accent cutting the throat of a US captive.

The Sunni extremist group has declared an Islamic "caliphate" in regions under its control in Iraq and Syria, after it swept through much of the Sunni Arab heartland north of Baghdad and then stormed minority Christian and Yazidi areas.

US freelance journalist Steven Sotloff during a work trip in Manama (EPA)

01:00 Thanks you for following. Join us back here tomorrow for more of the latest

00.00 Sen. Bill Nelson in the US will introduce legislation that would give President Barack Obama congressional authority to bomb Islamic State forces in Syria.

As bipartisan outrage poured in Tuesday after Islamic State of Iraq and Levant extremists claimed the execution of another American journalist, the Florida Democrat because the first lawmaker to offer concrete plans for legislation that would clearly give Obama an OK from Congress to strike at ISIL in Syria.

22.25 The US has released some night vision footage of one of the humanitarian food drops being delivered to the residents of the besieged town of Amerli.

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.

<noframe>Twitter: Lindsey Graham - Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of Mr. Sotloff and all those who have suffered under ISIL&rsquo;s barbaric behavior.</noframe>

<noframe>Twitter: Lindsey Graham - However, condemnation is not enough to deal with this scourge. It is time we act decisively against ISIL wherever it resides.</noframe>

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:

<noframe>Twitter: Brown Moses - based on what I've had chance to look at in the last 30 minutes it appears to be a different location. 3/3</noframe>

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