The United States was working Tuesday to authenticate the Islamic State video purportedly showing the beheading of a US journalist and is "sickened" if his killing is confirmed, the State Department said.
"If true, we are sickened by this brutal act," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said of the footage released by the militants, in which 31-year-old freelance writer Steven Sotloff appears to have been killed.
"Our hearts go out to the Sotloff family," she said.
Of the video, Psaki said: "The intelligence community will work as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity."
Short link: