Syrian militants free journalist as hunt for ‘jihadi John’ intensifies

Kidnappers in Syria have freed a US journalist missing since 2012, even as authorities say they are closing in on the Islamic State militant who executed reporter James Foley last week.

Peter Theo Curtis was handed over to UN representatives late on Sunday and is now in the hands of American officials.

The 45-year-old had been missing since October 2012 when he was last seen in the Turkish city of Antakya, apparently intending to enter Syria through the nearby border.

There are grave concerns for journalists being held captive in the region after video emerged last week of American James Foley, who was also captured in 2012, being beheaded.

That video, together with a threat to kill another US journalist being held hostage, Steven Sotloff, inspired widespread revulsion and an effort to hunt down Foley's killer, who spoke with a London accent.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that about 20 journalists are missing in Syria. Many of them are believed to be held by Islamic State.

US secretary of state John Kerry confirmed the release saying the US was using "every diplomatic, intelligence and military tool" at its disposal to secure the release of other Americans held hostage in Syria. It is not known if a ransom was paid.

It is believed that Curtis, who is fluent in Arabic, had been kidnapped by Al Qaeda offshoot the Nusrah Front, and in a video shot in captivity a few months ago he described himself as a journalist and said he was being treated well.

But a fellow prisoner who escaped last year said the group tortured and starved its prisoners.

White House national security adviser Susan Rice said Curtis was "safe outside of Syria, and we expect he will be reunited with his family shortly".

The journalist's family said it was not privy to the terms of his release but were "deeply grateful to the governments of the United States and Qatar and to the many individuals, private and public, who helped negotiate the release of our son, brother and cousin".

"We are also deeply saddened by the terrible, unjustified killing last week of (Curtis's) fellow journalist, Jim Foley," the family said in a statement, appealing for the release of other hostages.

A day after the beheading of Foley, the Pentagon confirmed it had launched a secret mission to rescue Foley and others held captive but failed to find them.

Britain's ambassador to the US, Peter Westmacott, told CNN that British intelligence was putting a great deal of resources into identifying the suspect in Foley's killing, including the use of voice-recognition technology.

Former hostages of IS have suggested the man in the video is one of a group of British Islamists assigned to guard foreign prisoners.

They have been dubbed John, Paul and Ringo, of the Beatles, because of their British accents, and British media say the suspect is "Jihadi John" who they have identified as former London rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary.

Westmacott said he could not give official details of the killer's identity, but added, "I do know from my colleagues at home that we are close".

News of Curtis's release came as hundreds of IS fighters wrested control of the north-eastern Syria Tabqa air base after days of fighting which cost more than 500 lives, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 346 IS fighters were killed and more than 170 members of government forces had died since fighting broke out last Tuesday, making it one of the deadliest confrontations between the two groups since the start of Syria's war.