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A new video appears to show the execution of Steven Sotloff, the second American killed by a self-professed member of the Islamist terror group ISIS.

In the video, which appeared online today, Sotloff addresses the camera, saying, “I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now and why I am appearing.”

“Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for preservation of American lives and interests, so why is it that I am paying the price of your interference with my life?” the journalist says calmly as the black clad militant holds a knife casually at his side.

Later the video then cuts to the militant who says that as long as U.S. missiles “continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.”

The camera cuts again and the militant appears to kill Sotloff.

Sotloff was seen alive last month at the end of a very similar video that appeared to show the execution of American journalist James Foley. In that video, the militant told President Obama that Sotloff’s life was in his hands.

Similarly, today’s video ends with the militant threatening the life of a man identified as David Cawthorne Haines, a British citizen.

Last week Sotloff’s mother, Shirley, issued a videotaped plea directly to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, asking him to spare her son.

“As a mother, I ask you justice be merciful and not [to] punish my son for matters he has no control over,” Shirley Sotloff says. “I ask you to use your authority to spare his life.”

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said today the White House could not confirm the video’s authenticity, but said, “our thoughts and prayers, first and foremost, are with Mr. Sotloff and Mr. Sotloff’s family."

At the time of his capture last year, Sotloff had been covering the Middle East for years as a freelance reporter, including stints in Yemen and Egypt. He wrote for Time Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, the Daily Caller, Foreign Policy, and most recently for World Affairs Journal.

The 31-year-old reporter studied journalism at the University of Central Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel. His articles online show heartfelt reporting about the brutality of the Syrian war.

Report from ABC News' Colleen Curry and Chris Good

 

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