British PM breaks holiday over beheading

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has broken off his holiday for talks on the threat posed by ISIL jihadists following the "shocking and depraved" apparent beheading of US journalist James Foley.

CAMERON was returning to his Downing Street office in London to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria as experts worked on trying to identify the executioner in the beheading video, who spoke with a British accent.

"If true, the murder of James Foley is shocking and depraved. I will today chair meetings on the situation in Iraq/Syria," Cameron said on Twitter.The video posted on Tuesday on the internet showed a masked militant beheading a man resembling Foley, who has been missing since he was seized in Syria in November 2012.Downing Street said in a statement on Wednesday that Cameron would meet with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other senior officials "to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria and the threat posed by ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, also Islamic State) terrorists".Wednesday was to have been the second day of the prime minister's break in Cornwall, southwest England.Hammond voiced his "absolute horror" at the apparent beheading, which he said is "just is one more example in a catalogue of brutality by this organisation", referring to ISIL.He said "atrocities" carried out by ISIL as it has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria were driving the international community's efforts to support Iraqis and Kurds in pushing back against the "evil organisation".He also said the apparent attack showed the security threat posed by European extremists fighting with IS if they attempted to return home.The masked executioner in the video speaks English with a British accent."On the face of it, it appears to have been a British person. We'll have to do some more analysis to make quite certain that that is the case," Hammond said.Around 400 Britons are believed to have gone to Syria over the past two years.British extremists are among the "most vicious and vociferous fighters" in the ISIL ranks, said Shiraz Maher, an expert on jihadism.Maher, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, said they had been operating as suicide bombers and executioners."Foreign fighters going out to Syria are not going out there to be backseat riders. They are going out to be full participants in the war, to be at the forefront of the conflict," he said.He said he and his colleagues were "fairly satisfied that it's a Brit" in the video "due to the colloquialisms" used, as well the accent."We have a database of several hundred fighters in Syria and myself and my colleagues are frantically looking through it to try to pin him down," he added.France on Wednesday lashed out at the apparent execution of Foley, labelling it a "barbaric" and "disgusting" act."This is a barbaric act that plays on fear," government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told reporters after Francois Hollande convened his first cabinet meeting after the summer break.In a statement Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that if confirmed, the "disgusting assassination would show the true face of this 'Caliphate of Barbarism'."It merits the firmest condemnation from the international community and strengthens our determination to fight against the 'Islamic State' in accordance with Resolution 2170 of the UN Security Council" that condemns the activity of ISIL.Fabius added his condolences to the flood of messages of support. "In such a sad moment, our thoughts go to the relatives of the journalist - a great professional, acclaimed by all in France - and in particular to his mother Diane Foley, whom we hosted last April," the minister said."More than ever, France is committed to the right of journalists to work safely. There can be no impunity for those that carried out these barbaric acts."Thousands of people have already posted messages of condolence on the Facebook site Free James Foley.

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