The Islamic extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has posted a video online showing the brutal beheading of an American journalist.

James Foley, a reporter working for Agence France-Presse and Boston media company GlobalPost, was taken captive while reporting in Syria November 2012.  He was passing through a zone that had been a focal point of Sunni rebel forces when four terrorists stopped his car.

The death of Foley is the first American to have been killed as a result of the Syrian conflict that began in March 2011.

A British man who had joined the terrorist group who spoke in the video using English conducted the killing.  The group showed video of a second captured American journalist and said they would kill him if the U.S. continued to make airstrikes against their forces in Iraq.

Foley’s family released a statement saying they were proud of him.

“He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people,” said the statement, which was attributed to Foley’s mother, Diane Foley. She implored the militants to spare the lives of other hostages. “Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world.”