Jordanian F-16 pilot captured by ISIS jihadists

Last night, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond voiced fears for the fate of the Jordanian pilot.

Posting on Twitter, Mr Hammond said: 'Concerned for Jordanian pilot held by ISIL (IS).

'We stand with Jordan at this difficult time.'

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani told The Associated Press that the plane was shot down by 'ground fire' but did not elaborate.

But last night, the US dismissed claims Isis were responsible for bringing the aircraft down.

It was the first instance of a foreign soldier falling into the group's hands since the U.S.-led coalition began its air campaign against the extremists. 

The plea from the pilot's father came as distraught relatives gathered outside the family home and at the tribe's chamber to hear the latest news about him and to discuss what can be done to save him.

The Raqqa Media Center published a photograph said to be of the pilot - in a white shirt, naked from the waist down and sopping wet - being pulled by gunmen out of what appeared to be a lake.

Another picture shows him surrounded by more than a dozen fighters, some of them masked. The center said IS fighters are scouring the area in case there is a second pilot.Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman on Thursday, also urged the militants to show 'hospitality' toward his son. He pleaded for good treatment, reminding the militants that his son was a Muslim, the same faith as the ultraconservative group.

He said: 'Now he is in the hands of Islamic State fighters and I do not want to describe him as a hostage. I call him a guest. He is a guest among brothers of ours in Syria's Islamic State.

'I ask them in the name of God, and I ask with the dignity of the prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, to receive him as a guest at his hosts' and treat him well.' He added: 'We are all Muslims.'

The pilot, 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, was captured after his warplane crashed in the militant stronghold of Raqqa on Wednesday while carrying out airstrikes against the militant group.There has been no word on his fate since his capture. 

Daily Mail