DPA

 Those who executed Alan Henning will be hunted down, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday after huddling with security chiefs to thrash out a response to the murder of the British aid worker.

A video of Henning’s beheading by Islamic State militants was posted on the Internet on Friday.

Henning was held by the group for nine months after being captured while travelling on an aid convoy to Syria.

“The murder of Alan Henning was absolutely appalling. It’s senseless.  It’s absolutely unforgivable,” Cameron said. “His killers will be hunted down and face justice.”

Cameron, asked about calls for special forces to mount a hunt-and-kill mission, said: “We will use all the assets that we have.”

A week ago Britain’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to participate in air strikes against the militants. The video of the beheading opened with footage from a news report on the vote.

The killing of the 47-year-old taxi driver from the northern city of Manchester sparked a storm of outrage.

Cameron spoke of “depravity” while Respect Party parliamentarian George Galloway said on Twitter the execution was a “Satanic act committed by devils in human form”.

The Ramadhan Foundation, which is one of many British Muslim associations to have called for the release of the father-of-two, described the Islamic State group as “barbaric” with an “evil ideology”.

“Islam not only condemns these crimes but forbids them. Those that carry them out are committing crimes against Islam,” Mohamed Shafiq, the head of the foundation, said.

The European Union expressed its determination to back the fight against Islamic State militants after the killing of Henning.

“Together with international and regional partners, the EU will spare no effort to ensure that an end is put to this atrocious terrorist campaign and all perpetrators are held accountable,” a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in Brussels.

The video ended with a clip of another hostage, named in a subtitle as American citizen Peter Edward Kassig. The masked man in the clip threatened to kill him in retaliation for US bombing in Syria.

Henning’s widow released a statement through the foreign ministry saying that his family members are “numb with grief”.

Describing her husband of 23 years as a “decent, caring human being” whose “interest was in the welfare of others”, Barbara Henning said his family was proud of the things he had achieved as an aid worker.

US President Barack Obama also condemned the “brutal” murder of Henning, saying the US would bring those responsible to justice. 

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