Isis claims to publish interview with captured Jordanian pilot
Islamic State’s online magazine carries purported interview with Muath al-Kasaesbeh, whose jet crashed last week
Islamic State (Isis) has released what it says is an interview with a Jordanian pilot captured last week after his plane crashed during US-led coalition bombing in eastern Syria.
It was not possible to independently verify the interview published in the group’s English-language online magazine Dabiq, in which First Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh was quoted as saying his F-16 fighter was struck by a heat-seeking missile.
“I heard and felt its hit. The other Jordanian pilot in the mission contacted me from a participating jet and told me that I was struck and that fire was coming out of the rear nozzle of my engine,” Kasaesbeh said, according to Dabiq.
He was also quoted as making brief comments about life at his base, sharing meals with hundreds of US personnel. “The Americans sometimes have dinner with us and eat mansaf [a traditional Arab dish], which they like a lot. Their talk does not include details about operations because of matters of secrecy and security.”
Jordan declined to comment on the apparent interview, the first since Isis published photographs purporting to show his capture. Kasaesbeh, who comes from a prominent Jordanian family, is the first pilot from the coalition known to have been captured by the hardline group.
Kasaesbeh’s jet crashed last week in a rural area in Syria’s Raqqa province, the group’s stronghold. Jordan’s government at first said the crash could have been the result of a missile attack but later it said there was no proof.
Jordan is one of several Arab countries taking part in a US-led coalition to strike the group which announced an Islamic caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq where it has imposed its radical interpretation of Islam.
Kasaesbeh’s capture shocked the country. Several politicians called on the government to pull out of the coalition. The authorities said his capture would not weaken its resolve to fight militant Islamist groups.
The Guardian
