Washington: Few days after an Islamic State video was posted online threatening to kill a 26-year-old US hostage Peter Kassig, the captive’s parents have released excerpts from a letter written by him during the ISIS captivity.
According to report, Peter’s parents – Ed and Paula Kassig – decided to make public the excerpts so that “the world can understand why we and so many people care for him and admire him.
Having beheaded US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines, Islamic State released a gruesome video last Friday showing the beheading of another British aid worker Alan Henning. Towards the end of the video, the British-accented IS fighter threatened to kill 26-year-old Peter Kassig.
I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping, and wondering if I should even hope at all. I am very sad that all this has happened and for what all of you back home are going through.
If I do die, I figure that at least you and I can seek refuge and comfort in knowing that I went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need. In terms of my faith, I pray every day and I am not angry about my situation in that sense. The letter concludes with a heart-breaking “I love you.
Peter Kassig’s first trip to the Middle East was as a US soldier, but later he became a medical worker to alleviate the sufferings of war victims. Kassig had founded a relief organisation named Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA), and was working for the same when he was captured on his way to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria last October.
Bureau Report
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