ANKARA
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday condemned the murder of a captive Jordanian air force pilot apparently burned to death by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants.
"I curse and damn the burning of the Jordanian pilot," said Erdogan during an address in the presidential palace in the capital, Ankara.
The president offered his condolences to the family of the pilot and the Jordanian nation, adding that such an act could not be accepted.
First Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh’s F-16 was shot down over Syria on Dec. 24 during a bombing raid on ISIL positions near the city of Raqqa.
Footage purporting to show al-Kasaesbeh's death was released three days after a video apparently showed the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto by ISIL militants. Jordan has since confirmed the death of its pilot.
The Jordanian authorities had tried to secure Kasaesbeh's release, but ISIL initially made his freedom conditional on the release from a Jordanian jail of would-be suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi.
In retaliation, Rishawi was executed by Jordanian authorities on Wednesday.
