Representational Image. (Reuters Photo)
Amman:
Jordanian fighter jets pounded Islamic State hideouts in Syria on Thursday and then roared over the hometown of a pilot killed by the militants while King Abdullah consoled the victim's family below.
Witnesses overheard the monarch telling the pilot's father the planes were returning from the militant-held city of Raqqa. A security source told Reuters the strikes hit targets in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor and near Raqqa.
The show of force came two days after the ultra-hardline Islamic State released a video showing captured Jordanian pilot Mouath al-Kasaesbeh being burned alive in a cage as masked militants in camouflaged uniforms stood around watching.
State television said details of the attacks would be made known later in what would be the first time Jordan announces carrying out strikes outside the framework of the U.S.-led military coalition.
King Abdullah told top security and army chiefs on Wednesday that it was crucial to step up pre-emptive strikes against the militant hardline Islamists.
Jordan's military, which is part of the US-led coalition against the group, has vowed to avenge Kasaesbeh's killing.
State television showed a sombre king sitting alongside the army chief and senior officials visiting the Kasaesbeh tribal family in Aya, a village near Karak some 100 km (60 miles) south of the capital Amman.
The king, wearing a traditional Arab head dress, was met with cheering crowds and cries of "Long Live his Majesty the King, Long Live the King" in traditional Bedouin chanting.
Thousands of Jordanians flocked to pay their respects in a part of the country where influential tribes form an important pillar of the country's Hashemite monarchy and supply the army and security forces with their manpower.
"You are a wise monarch. These criminals violated the rules of war in Islam and they have no humanity. Even humanity disowns them," Safi Kasaesbeh, father of the pilot, told the king.
The Jordanian monarch has vowed that the death of the pilot, which has stirred nationalist fervour across the country, would bring severe retaliation on Islamic State.
Hours after the release of the video showing the pilot burning to death, the authorities executed two Al Qaeda militants who had been on death row, including a woman suicide bomber whose release had been demanded by Islamic State.
© Thomson Reuters 2015
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