LONDON, August 20. /ITAR-TASS/. The Islamic State (IS) video that purportedly shows the beheading of US journalist James Foley appears to be genuine, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC.

Hammond said the man committing the killing in the video “on the face of it appears to have been a British person”. He acknowledged the militant spoke with a British accent but said that further analysis was needed to verify the claims. 

"We're absolutely aware that there are significant numbers of British nationals involved in terrible crimes (in Iraq and Syria),” Hammond said. "Many of these people may seek at some point to return to the UK and they would then pose a direct threat to our domestic security," he added.