BAGHDAD — President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday that the United States would not be intimidated by the beheading of a second American reporter but acknowledged the fight against the jihadists would take time.
Obama pledged that justice would be done to the Islamic State (IS) killers of 31-year-old reporter Steven Sotloff, wherever they hid and however long it took.
But he warned that eliminating the threat posed to the region by the group from its bases in Iraq and Syria would take time.
IS posted video footage on the Internet of Sotloff's beheading, confirmed as authentic by Washington, which sparked outrage around the world.
It said the journalist's killing, which comes on the heels of the beheading last month of another US reporter, James Foley, was in retaliation for expanded US air strikes against its fighters in Iraq over the past week.
It warned a British hostage would be next unless London backs off from its support for Washington's air campaign.
Obama said the whole world had been repulsed by the barbarism of Sotloff's murder but "we will not be intimidated".
"Those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served," he said.
Obama said Washington was determined to halt the IS threat to the region but warned it would depend on close cooperation with partners in the region.
He has previously admitted that his administration has yet to develop a comprehensive strategy for tackling IS on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border.
Washington has ruled out any air strikes for now against IS fighters on the Syrian side, where they hold a large swathe of the east.
Obama has also ruled out any cooperation with the Damascus regime against IS, for fear that it would drive other Sunni rebel groups in Syria into alliance with the jihadists.
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