Families: Jihadi John’s death is ‘small solace’

The families of two slain U.S. journalists are taking little solace in the news that a U.S. airstrike likely killed the terrorist featured in videos of their sons’ murders, they said Friday. 

“It is a very small solace to learn that Jihadi John may have been killed by the U.S. government,” John and Diane Foley, the parents of James Foley, said in a written statement Friday. “His death does not bring Jim back. If only so much effort had been given to finding and rescuing Jim and the other hostages who were subsequently murdered by ISIS, they might be alive today.”

{mosads}On Friday, the Pentagon said it is “reasonably certain” an overnight airstrike near Raqqa, Syria, killed its intended target, Mohammed Emwazi.

Emwazi was dubbed Jihadi John after appearing in multiple videos released by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that showed the murders of hostages from the United States and other countries, including U.S. journalists Foley and Steven Sotloff, U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

Art and Shirley Sotloff struck a similar tone as Foley’s parents.

“This development doesn’t change anything for us; it’s too little too late,” Sotloff’s parents said in a written statement. “Our son is never coming back. More importantly, today, we remember Steven’s remarkable life, his contributions and those of James Foley, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, Kayla Mueller, David Haines, Alan Henning, Kenji Goto and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of ISIS.”