Haines, Foley, Henning... Salopek is the ninth Western victim of brutal ISIL

If the news that members of the Islamic State brutally executed Tomislav Salopek is confirmed, it will be their ninth beheading of a Western citizen, reports the news agency Patria.

American journalist

American freelance journalist James Foley was inhumanely killed on August 19, 2014, in retaliation for US airstrikes against Islamic State militants. Foley was kidnapped in Syria two years earlier while working for the Boston-based portal GlobalPost.

The Islamic State released a gruesome video of Foley's beheading as a warning to Washington to stop the attacks, but President Barack Obama said ISIL was "a cancer that needs to be stopped" and that the US would continue to do what it must to protect its people. Pope Francis personally called James Foley's family to express his condolences.

At the end of the Foley murder video, another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, who worked for Time and the Jerusalem Post and was kidnapped in Syria in 2013, was shown.

"The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision," says the masked killer in the video in English with a British accent. That bloodthirsty killer would later be identified as Jihadi John. Sotloff was killed on September 2, following the same pattern as Foley two weeks earlier. The entire civilized world was once again horrified.

British humanitarian David Haines

The next victim was British humanitarian David Haines, who was beheaded on September 13. The murder resonated strongly in Croatia because Haines was a son-in-law from Sisak. He came to Croatia in 2000, where he worked as the head of the office of the German humanitarian organization Arbeiter Samariter Bund in Petrinja and Knin, and later in Sisak. There he also met his second wife Dragana, with whom he founded a joint company in Sisak, where he also had his registered residence. They have a four-year-old daughter. "This is a disgusting and terrifying murder of an innocent humanitarian. It is an act of pure evil," British Prime Minister David Cameron said of the murder.

US President Barack Obama strongly condemned the "barbaric murder" of British citizen David Haines, stating "The United States tonight stands shoulder to shoulder with our close friends and allies in grief and determination."

Execution of French tourist Herve Gourdel

Algerian jihadists linked to the Islamic State brutally executed kidnapped French tourist Herve Gourdel in September due to French airstrikes on ISIL in Iraq. French President Francois Hollande received the news at a session of the UN General Assembly. Gourdel was "killed in a cowardly, cruel and shameful manner," said the French president, adding that French military airstrikes on ISIL jihadists in Iraq would continue "as long as necessary."

Henning, fourth victim of Jihadi John

The next beheading by IS jihadists occurred in October. The victim was British humanitarian Alan Henning, who was kidnapped in Syria a year earlier. He was the fourth victim of Jihadi John, British Muslim Mohammed Emwazi. His fifth victim, killed in the same manner in November of that year, would be American humanitarian Peter Kassig. This was the first murder not preceded by a message to Western governments, leading to speculation that Kassig, defying his executioners, did not want to be filmed.

Murders of Japanese

The last Western victims of ISIL were Japanese entrepreneur Haruna Yukawa and freelance journalist Kenji Goto in January of this year. The Islamists first demanded $200 million for their release, and then the release of an imprisoned female jihadist.

 "This is a despicable terrorist act that makes me very angry," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the time, visibly upset. "We will never forgive the terrorists," he said.

"Japan is determined to take responsibility within the international community in the fight against terrorism" and to ensure that those responsible "are brought to justice."

However, these were not the only brutal murders by IS jihadists. Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, who participated in airstrikes on Syria, where he was shot down, was burned alive. This sparked anger and outrage in Jordan and the Islamic world. Al-Azhar, one of the most respected institutions of Sunni Islam based in Egypt, called IS a satanic organization.

The brutal jihadists also released photos of mass killings of Egyptian Copts and Ethiopian Christians. Executions of several captured Syrian and Kurdish soldiers who fought against the Islamic State were also publicly announced, writes Index.