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| We do not know where Islamic State hostages are being held, UK admits | We do not know where Islamic State hostages are being held, UK admits |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| British forces are unable to mount a rescue attempt to free the hostages held by Islamic State (Isis) militants because they do not know where they are being detained, the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has admitted. | |
| Following talks with other foreign ministers in Paris, Hammond also said Britain would play a leading role in the coalition to defeat Isis, remarks that suggest the UK will increase its military efforts beyond arming the Kurds and reconnaissance over Iraq. | Following talks with other foreign ministers in Paris, Hammond also said Britain would play a leading role in the coalition to defeat Isis, remarks that suggest the UK will increase its military efforts beyond arming the Kurds and reconnaissance over Iraq. |
| Isis extremists – who killed the British aid worker David Haines and two US journalists – have threatened to murder a second UK hostage, former cab driver Alan Henning, who was snatched while travelling with an aid convoy in Syria. | |
| Hammond told reporters: "We don't know where he is. Obviously, if we knew where he was, we would be able to look at all sorts of options but we don't know where he is. We have considered every possible option to support these kidnap victims – both British and others – and if we knew where they were, it would be a different story but we don't know where they are." | Hammond told reporters: "We don't know where he is. Obviously, if we knew where he was, we would be able to look at all sorts of options but we don't know where he is. We have considered every possible option to support these kidnap victims – both British and others – and if we knew where they were, it would be a different story but we don't know where they are." |
| Britain has ruled out paying ransom money and Cameron has spoken twice to the Haines family in recent days including on Sunday after news of his murder broke. | |
| Hammond said Henning's family was going through hell but that they understood there was a limit to what the government could do to help him. | |
| "It is a terrible time for them. We are doing everything that we can to protect him," he said. | "It is a terrible time for them. We are doing everything that we can to protect him," he said. |
| "They understand, because we have explained to them in detail, the limitations of our abilities. We are dealing with a very barbaric organisation whose values are completely different from ours." | "They understand, because we have explained to them in detail, the limitations of our abilities. We are dealing with a very barbaric organisation whose values are completely different from ours." |
| Downing Street has not denied that it may be trying to speak to leading figures inside Isis through intermediaries. | Downing Street has not denied that it may be trying to speak to leading figures inside Isis through intermediaries. |
| Hammond said he had made clear that Britain would play a leading role in the gathering coalition, and he kept open the option of strikes against Isis inside Syria. | Hammond said he had made clear that Britain would play a leading role in the gathering coalition, and he kept open the option of strikes against Isis inside Syria. |
| "I have said already in parliament that would be an order of magnitude more difficult than air strikes in Iraq for all sorts of reasons – military, legal and technical – but we haven't ruled it out," he said. | "I have said already in parliament that would be an order of magnitude more difficult than air strikes in Iraq for all sorts of reasons – military, legal and technical – but we haven't ruled it out," he said. |
| "We haven't made a decision yet about how we will best contribute to the coalition effort against Isil [Isis]. But I have said this morning in the meeting that Britain is clear that it will play a leading role in this coalition." | "We haven't made a decision yet about how we will best contribute to the coalition effort against Isil [Isis]. But I have said this morning in the meeting that Britain is clear that it will play a leading role in this coalition." |
| Hammond said it was unrealistic to expect Iran to be a fully-fledged member of the coalition to drive out Isis, but he said he hoped Tehran would align itself with the coalition and be co-operative with the plans if not actively part of the coalition. | |
| Also on Monday, the home secretary, Theresa May, speaking at Harvard university, called the murder of Haines a barbaric act and said Britain and the US would confront Isis together. She said: "On Saturday night, I heard the terrible news that Isis had carried out another murder of a hostage, and shortly afterwards it was confirmed that the victim was David Haines, a British humanitarian worker. This was an absolutely barbaric act, and everyone's thoughts are with David's family. | |
| "Our message has to be clear. The United Kingdom, like the United States, will not allow these grotesque acts to stop us from keeping our homelands secure and stopping the march of this brutal ideology." | "Our message has to be clear. The United Kingdom, like the United States, will not allow these grotesque acts to stop us from keeping our homelands secure and stopping the march of this brutal ideology." |
| Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said "the barbaric murder of David Haines underlines the threat that Isis poses, and their brutal campaign of persecution and terror against civilians cannot be ignored. | |
| He said: "Labour supports the steps taken so far to assist Iraq's government in combating this threat, and we welcome the UK government's ongoing contribution towards the humanitarian effort in Iraq and the provision of arms and assistance to help Kurdish forces combat Isis on the frontline. | |
| "A regionally led response to Isis is vital and the agreement at the Paris conference affirmed the commitment of countries in the region to play an active role in working, with allies, to combat Isis. |