ISIL releases ‘interview’ with captive Jordanian pilot

In the interview, the Jordanian pilot captured by ISIL last week says he expects his captors to kill him.

BEIRUT // The ISIL group has published what it says is an interview with a Jordanian pilot who was captured last week after his plane crashed in Syria.

In the comments attributed to the pilot, he says his plane was hit by a heat-seeking missile, endorsing the militant group’s version of events, which has been rejected by both Jordan and the United States.

The purported interview published by the ISIL online English-language magazine Dabiq on Monday was accompanied by photographs of First Lieutenant Maaz Al Kassasbeh, 26.

Mr Kassasbeh was captured by ISIL on December 24 after his F-16 jet crashed while on a mission against the extremists over northern Syria.

The crash was the first warplane from the US-led coalition lost in combat since airstrikes on ISIL began in Syria in September.

In the interview, the pilot says he expects his ISIL captors to kill him.

* Agence France-Presse