Cameron says Britain will 'hunt down Islamic State monsters'

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Britain will ‘hunt down’ the Islamic State militants who beheaded British aid worker David Haines.

“We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes,” Cameron said, following a meeting of the UK emergency committee Cobra.

“We cannot just walk on by if we are to keep this country safe,” he said. “Step by step, we must drive back, dismantle and ultimately destroy Isil and what it stands for.

“They are not Muslims, they are monsters.”

He also said that the country was ‘sickened’ that a Briton could have carried out such a ‘despicable’ killing.

“We will not destroy them on our own, but with our allies, not just in the United States and Europe, but also in the region,” Cameron said. “This is not about British combat troops on the ground. It is about working with others to extinguish this terrorist threat.”

Cameron said that Britain will work with the Iraqi government to ensure it represents all its people and continue supporting the Kurdish regional government which Britain has already supplied with ammunition and training. He also said that Britain will support the United States in its direct military action against IS targets, currently restricted to air strikes, and that it will continue to use the RAF to give humanitarian aid to the millions of people who have fled the region.

The ‘Islamic State’, a self-declated caliphate, controls large swathes of territory in Syria and northern Iraq. The CIA estimate that around 30,000 people fight for them.