Jihadists threaten to target White House
Jihadists threaten to target White House
Obama rules out combat mission for US troops in Iraq
Islamic State (IS) militants have threatened to target the White House and kill US troops in a new slickly made video response to Barack Obama's campaign to "degrade and destroy" the organisation.
The video, in the style of a blockbuster movie trailer for what is "coming soon", depicts a masked man apparently about to shoot kneeling prisoners in the head. Towards the end of the clip there is shaky footage of the White House filmed from a moving vehicle, suggesting the building is being scoped out for attack.
It was released on Tuesday after US defence chiefs suggested that American troops could join Iraqi forces fighting Isis, despite Obama's assurance that US soldiers would not be engaged in fighting on the ground.
The only words on the 52-second clip are those of Obama making that pledge. "American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq," it quotes him saying. This comes directly after footage of US troops being shot at, injured and taken away in an armoured vehicle, threatening what will happen if troops are redeployed to Iraq.
The video was released by the al-Hayat Media Centre, Isis's English-language propaganda arm. It purports to be a trailer for film entitled Flames of War with the strapline "Fighting has just begun".
Meanwhile, elite Iraqi troops backed by US jets battled jihadists near Baghdad yesterday as President Barack Obama insisted that US troops will not have combat mission in Iraq.
His comments came after his top general suggested some US advisors could join Iraqi forces to fight the Islamic State group.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that US military advisers could "provide close-combat advising".
But the White House insisted the idea of US troops in battle was a "purely hypothetical scenario".
Obama made his speech after meeting General Lloyd Austin, who runs US Central Command, which stretches across the troubled belt of South and Central Asia and the Middle East. He also sat down in closed door talks with military representatives of 40 nations which are expected to take part in the anti-IS mission.