Pilot video raises stakes, experts say

A video of a Jordanian pilot being burned to death is exceptional in its brutality, even for the Islamic State group, and is also a sign that the militants intend to raise the stakes in their propaganda efforts, experts said.

It also supports the belief that the airman was killed days or weeks before its release.

The 22-minute clip that appeared on websites on Tuesday was a complex, extravagant work that would have taken a significant amount of time and organization to script, stage, produce and distribute, they said.

It also suggested that the demands last week for a prisoner swap for the pilot, Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh, were a cynical charade to increase the drama around his killing, because he most likely was already dead.

Jordanian state TV had said al-Kasaesbeh, who was flying missions for the US-led campaign of airstrikes, was killed as long ago as Jan 3, shortly after his F-16 came down in IS-controlled territory in December.

"The more gruesome the executions are, the more attention they get," said Brigitte Nacos, a professor of political science at Columbia University.

"When President Obama responds to each of their killing videos, that gives them the feeling of being a powerful political actor that legitimate actors have to deal with."

The video featured production techniques used in other clips from the militants. But unlike those that showed beheadings in which the hostages or their killer delivered a message before being killed, the pilot video is longer and involves a storytelling narrative and at least four cameras, along with advanced editing techniques.

It bears the logo of the militant group's al-Furqan media service and includes footage of Jordan's king committing to the fight against IS and meeting with US officials. The pilot is shown explaining his mission on the day his jet crashed.

Finally, he is seen in an outdoor cage as a masked militant ignites a line of fuel leading to it. It also includes a list of purported Jordanian pilots wanted by the group.

Shiraz Maher, a senior fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King's College, London, said: "This is simply the most horrific, disgusting thing I have seen from IS in the last two years. It is shocking."