American aid worker and former soldier Peter Kassig was beheaded by ISIL terrorists. President Barack Obama confirmed the 26-year-old's death Sunday, after the video surfaced the web. 

Peter Kassig standing in front of a truch near the Syrian border delivering supplies to refugees before being held captive by ISIL. (AFP/Getty Images)

Kassig, who changed his name to Abdul Rahman while held captive, was providing medical care to Syrians fleeing the war when he was captured in October of last year. 

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"Abdul-Rahman was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity," Obama said in a statement. 

The 16-minute video shows a masked militant with a British accent identifying himself as Kassig. The video does not show the actual decapitation, but at the end of the video Kassig's head appears in the bottom of the frame. The video, which is the longest so far from the terrorist group, also shows several Syrian soldiers being beheading simultaneously. 

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In a statement Sunday, Kassig's family said, "We are heartbroken to leanr that our son Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, has lost his life as a result of his love for the Syrian people and his desire to ease their suffering. Our heart also goes out to the families of the Syrians who lost their lives, along with our son."

Kassig is the fifth Western hostage killed by ISIL in less than three months. 

Read more from Time, CNN, and The Huffington Post. 

Reach Web Producer Jessica Oliveira here or on Twitter here.