Jordanian state television today said pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh, whom the Islamic State group claimed to have burnt alive in a video posted online, was killed a month ago.
It said the captured airman had been killed by the group on January 3, before the jihadists offered to spare his life and free a Japanese journalist in return for the release of a female would-be suicide bomber on death row in Jordan.
The extremists had threatened to kill Kassasbeh unless Amman handed over Iraqi jihadist Sajida al-Rishawi.
State television broadcast a picture of "martyr pilot Kassasbeh" with a black band across the screen accompanied by patriotic music.
It said the captured airman had been killed by the group on January 3, before the jihadists offered to spare his life and free a Japanese journalist in return for the release of a female would-be suicide bomber on death row in Jordan.
The extremists had threatened to kill Kassasbeh unless Amman handed over Iraqi jihadist Sajida al-Rishawi.
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Jordan had insisted on proof that the pilot, captured on December 24 after his F-16 jet went down while on a mission over northern Syria, was alive before any exchange.
State television broadcast a picture of "martyr pilot Kassasbeh" with a black band across the screen accompanied by patriotic music.