Remains of Indiana man killed by ISIS in 2014 may have been found

INDIANAPOLIS ( WXIN — The remnants of an Indiana resident who was murdered by ISIS in 2014 might have been discovered in Syria lately.

According to a report from Reuters, A team from Qatar has been looking for the remains of several American hostages who were slain by ISIS over ten years ago. According to Reuters, this search party includes officials both from Qatar and a number of Americans.

According to Reuters' report, the primary objective for the team was to locate the remains of Peter Kassig from Indianapolis, who was also referred to as Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig.

Previous reporting from FOX59/CBS4 suggests Kassig was among those who were decapitated in a 16-minute video posted by ISIS in 2014.

According to Reuters, when Kassig died, ISIS had control over significant parts of both Syria and Iraq. As reported earlier, the 26-year-old Kassig was operating in the region as a humanitarian aide, helping those affected by the Syrian Civil War through a non-profit organization he founded.

Based on earlier reports from FOX59/CBS4, Kassig was initially seized by ISIS in October 2013. The group published a video showing the beheadings of Kassig along with several others on November 16, 2014.

Reuters stated that the Qatari group has successfully retrieved the remains of three people thus far. However, none of these found remains have been formally identified as of now. On Sunday morning, Ed and Paula Kassig, who are the parents of Kassig, issued a statement regarding the endeavors undertaken by the Qatari group.

“The Kassig family released a prepared statement stating they learned yesterday from the U.S. government about a joint initiative between Qatar, the United States, and at least one non-government organization," reads their written message. "This operation uncovered human remains in or around Dabiq, Syria. These individuals might have perished at the hands of ISIS. There’s a chance that among them could be the remains of our son, Peter Kassig, who was also called Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig. Currently, we await further examination aimed at identifying the deceased.”

We appreciate everyone contributing to the initiative of identifying these deceased individuals' remains and returning them to their homelands and families. We won’t make additional statements until we have more information. Thanks for respecting our need for privacy at present.

As reported by Reuters, the organization thought that Kassig’s remains might be found close to where the bodies of murdered American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were situated; these two individuals had also been captives who lost their lives at the hands of ISIS in 2014.

In their first report, Reuters stated that it was unclear how much longer the Qatari group would keep searching for the remains of deceased American hostages.

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