Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants apparently have killed an Iraqi journalist for refusing to join the group.
Al Jazeera reported Saturday that Raad al-Azzawi, 37, his brother and two other civilians were shot a day earlier in the village of Samra, east of Tikrit, the relatives said.
The Associated Press reported that the governor of Iraq’s Salahuddin province, Raed Ibrahim, has confirmed the identify of Azzawi, who was a cameraman for Iraq’s Salahuddin Television.
Reporters Without Borders said last month the Islamic State had threatened to execute Azzawi, a father of three, for refusing to join the militant group. The media watchdog said Azzawi was abducted on Sept. 7.
Two American journalists and two British aid workers also have been beheaded by Islamic State militants in what the group says are retaliatory killings for the U.S.-led airstrikes campaign against its fighters in Iraq and Syria.
The group has threatened next to kill Abdul-Rahman Kassig, a U.S. humanitarian worker it’s holding hostage.
Family and friends of Kassig, a 26-year-old from Indiana formerly known as Peter Kassig, held a prayer service for him on Friday in the town of Plainfield, near Indianapolis.
“I have faith that he will feel the strength of these prayers and receive blessings from them,” said his mother, Paula Kassig, as reported by Reuters.
Kassig’s parents have said through a spokesperson their son was taken captive on his way to the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Oct. 1, 2013.
