Captured Jordanian pilot's father pleads with IS

Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh spoke to reporters in Jordan's capital, Amman on Thursday, urging members of the "Islamic State" (IS) to release his son and show "hospitality" towards their captive, who was a Muslim, just like them.

"I do not want to describe him as a hostage. I call him a guest," Kaseasbeh told Reuters television. "He is a guest among brothers of ours in Syria Islamic State. I ask them - by the name of God and with the dignity of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him - to receive him as a guest of his hosts and treat him well."

Pilot has 'not been forgotten'

Jordan's government has meanwhile vowed to make every effort to save 27-year-old First Lieutenant Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, who was captured in northeast Syria on Wednesday after his plane crashed while on a bombing mission led by the US to wipe out IS extremists. Enemy fire was not the cause of the crash, US army said.

"The Jordanian government … is making all efforts with several crisis cells to free [the pilot]. We are confident that the brave one will be released … He has not been forgotten," the official newspaper Al Rai said in an editorial on Thursday.

The parliament in Amman also said it would hold IS responsible for "safeguarding the life" of its pilot.

US Central Command chief General Lloyd Austin also condemned the actions of the IS, saying he would "not tolerate" the militants' attempts "to misrepresent or exploit this unfortunate aircraft crash for their own purposes."

Kaseasbeh is the first pilot from the international coalition to be captured by IS militants. The extremist Sunni group has occupied vast areas of northern Iraq and Syria and aims to establish a "caliphate" in the region.

mg/sb (AFP, AP, Reuters)