Jordan executes two terrorists in retaliation for ISIS killing of pilot

Jordan announced early this morning that they have executed two Al-Qaeda terrorists in retaliation for the killing of their pilot, Moath al-Kasasbeh. The prisoners killed are; would-be al Qaeda suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli.

Al-Rishawi has been on death row for her role in a triple hotel bombing in the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2005 that killed 57 people. She's the same person ISIS had asked to have in exchange for the release of Moath.

The killing of the two terrorists came just hours after ISIS released a video showing the gruesome killing of Moath, who was burned alive in a cage. Jordan has promised more harsh punishments.
A Jordanian government spokesman says Jordan has executed two prisoners, including a would-be female suicide bomber from al-Qaida.
The executions at dawn Wednesday came just hours after Islamic State militants released a video that purportedly showed a captured Jordanian fighter pilot being burned alive in a cage.
Jordan vowed a swift and lethal response. Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said that two prisoners, Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli, were executed early Wednesday.
Al-Rishawi has been on death row for her role in a triple hotel bombing in the Jordanian capital Amman in 2005 that killed dozens.

The highly choreographed 22-minute video released by Isis online showed images of a man purported to be First Lieutenant Maaz al-Kassasbeh, captured in December, engulfed in flames.
King Abdullah II cut short a visit to Washington to fly home, state television said, as Amman confirmed the death of the 26-year-old fighter pilot and vowed an "earth-shattering response".
The video, whose authenticity was not immediately verified, enraged officials and the army in Jordan vowed to avenge the murder of the 26-year-old pilot.
Earlier today, a security official said an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber on death row, Rishawi, and other jihadists will be executed at dawn on Wednesday local time.
"The death sentence will be carried out on a group of jihadists, starting with Rishawi, as well as Iraqi Al-Qaeda operative Ziad Karbuli and others who attacked Jordan's interests," said the official.
State television said Kassasbeh had already been killed on January 3, before Isis offered to spare his life and free a Japanese journalist in return for Rishawi's release.

"Every time you think they cannot commit anything worse -- they open up another trapdoor."

Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation

US President Barack Obama denounced the apparent killing as "just one more indication of the viciousness (and) barbarity" of Isis.
The United States will "redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of the global coalition to make sure" the group is "ultimately defeated", he added.
The White House said US intelligence was working to confirm the video's authenticity.

'Barbaric enemy'

The chief of the US-led war on IS, General Lloyd Austin, condemned the pilot's murder as "savage" and vowed to "fight this barbaric enemy until it is defeated".
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the "sickening murder will only strengthen our resolve to defeat ISIL", another acronym for Isis.

Kassasbeh was captured on December 24 after his F-16 jet crashed during a mission over northern Syria as part of the US-led campaign against the jihadists.
The video released today shows footage of him at a table recounting coalition operations against Isis, with flags from the various Western and Arab countries in the alliance projected in the background.
It then shows Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by armed and masked Isis fighters in camouflage.
It cuts to him standing inside the cage and apparently soaked in petrol before a masked jihadist uses a torch to light a trail of flame that runs to the cage and burns him alive.
The video also offered rewards for the killing of other "crusader" pilots.
The release of the video of Kassasbeh's purported murder came after Isis beheaded two Japanese hostages within a week.

'Horrific, disgusting' footage

The Isis (Islamic State) group had vowed to kill the second Japanese, Kenji Goto, and Kassasbeh by sunset on January 29 unless Amman handed over Rishawi.
Kassasbeh's plane was the first loss of an aircraft since the US-led coalition launched strikes against Isis last year.
Along with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are taking part in the air strikes in Syria.
Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France and the Netherlands are participating in Iraq.
Isis seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria last year, declaring an Islamic "caliphate" and committing a wave of atrocities.
The extremist group claimed in a video released at the weekend that it had killed 47-year-old Goto, after previously murdering another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.
It had initially demanded a $200 million ransom for the Japanese hostages -- the same amount Tokyo had promised in non-military aid to countries affected by Isis.
Isis had previously beheaded two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers in similar videos.
Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, described the footage as "simply the most horrific, disgusting thing I have seen from Islamic State in the last two years".
"They clearly want to make a real point. This is the first individual whom they have captured who has been directly involved with the Western coalition in fighting IS. It is different from the aid workers... This is an act of belligerence.
"Every time you think they cannot commit anything worse -- they open up another trapdoor."
Jordan had vowed to do everything it could to save the pilot but had demanded proof he was still alive before handing over Rishawi.
Isis had previously published what it said was an interview with the pilot in which he said his plane was hit by a heat-seeking missile.
It claimed to have shot down his plane but both Jordan and the United States said it had crashed.
Kassasbeh's family had urged Isis to release the recently married pilot, with his father Safi asking the jihadist group to show "mercy".