Islamic State has released a video showing hostage John Cantlie claiming the battle for the Syrian town of Kobani is "coming to an end".
The 43-year-old British photojournalist, who has been held captive for over two years, said Islamic State militants were “mopping up” against Kurdish fighters and it was not “all-out battle” contrary to Western media reports, as he appeared in the latest propaganda film.
It is the second video he has featured in since the death of his father Paul Cantlie, 80, who died from complications following pneumonia last week.
Dressed all in black and speaking from Kobani in apparently scripted footage, Cantlie said Western media groups including the BBC and The Independent were reporting information from the White House and Kurdish army commanders, "neither of whom have the slightest intentions of telling the truth".
He said: “Now the battle for Kobani is coming to an end. The mujahideen are just mopping up now, street to street, and building to building. You can occasionally hear erratic gunfire in the background as a result of those operations.
“But contrary to what the Western media would have you believe, it is not an all-out battle here now. It is nearly over. As you can hear, it is very quiet, just the occasional gunfire.
"Two-hundred thousand inhabitants of the city have been displaced because of the fighting that came here. You can see the refugee camps over my right shoulder over there in Turkey, where the inhabitants now are. But contrary to media reports, the fighting in Kobani is nearly over
“Urban warfare is as about as nasty and tough as it gets, and it’s something of a speciality of the mujahideen.” – (PA)