Journalist Steve Sotloff in Egypt, 2011 (photo credit: Facebook/Oren Kessler)

(VOVworld) - The UN Security Council on Saturday strongly condemned the “heinous and cowardly” murder of American journalist Steven Sotloff by Islamists and declared that the Islamic State must be defeated.

Fifteen council members stressed that the crime has warned the danger that reporters in Syria are facing every day. The statement said the international community must take emergency actions to prevent such brutal acts of the extremist group. The UN Security Council called on governments and institutions around the world to join efforts to fight against the IS, the Al-Nusra Front and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with al-Qaeda.

Slain US journalists James Foley, left, and Steven Sotloff, right. Both were executed by the IS jihadists in late August and September 2014. (Photo: BBC)

The council also asked extremist jihaddist groups to free hostages immediately and unconditionally.

Sotloff, 31, was the second American journalists to be beheaded by terrorists from the extremist jihadist group in a video released Tuesday, two weeks after the similar video of US journalist James Foley’s killing was posted online. According to the UNESCO, more than 430 journalists had been killed over 5 years since 2007.