IS beheads UK aid worker

“If you, Cameron, persist in fighting the Islamic State, then you, like your master Obama, will have the blood of your people on your hands”, the masked man said

• Alan Henning is the next victim: ISIS
• Oz to deploy 600 troops in UAE

Beirut: Islamic State extremists released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines, who was abducted in Syria last year, and British Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned his slaying as "an act of pure evil."

Cameron confirmed Haines' death in a statement late on Saturday after the British Foreign Office had said earlier that it was "working urgently to verify the video." Haines is the third Westerner beheaded in recent weeks by the Islamic State group, which has seized vast swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq.

The video emerged a day after Haines' family issued a public plea late on Friday urging his captors to contact them.

IS militants recently beheaded two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and posted the videos online after the US began launching airstrikes and humanitarian missions in August to aid waning Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq. Meanwhile, IS militants identified a second Briton named Alan Henning as their next victim, multiple reports said. In the footage, a masked man said Henning would be killed if United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron continued military action against the organization formerly known as ISIS.

“If you, Cameron, persist in fighting the Islamic State, then you, like your master Obama, will have the blood of your people on your hands,” the masked man said after Haines’ alleged execution.

Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that Australia would deploy 600 troops to the United Arab Emirates to join the US-led international coalition gearing up for war against Islamic State jihadists.

Abbott's announcement comes two days after Canberra lifted its terror alert level to "high" on growing concern about Australian jihadists returning from fighting in Iraq and Syria. Abbott said the deployment of about "400 air personnel and about 200 military personnel" followed a formal request from Washington for Australia to contribute to the international coalition against the rampaging Islamist group.