Jordan steps-up military offensive to 'wipe Islamic State out'

In the wake of the killing of a Jordanian hostage by the Islamic State (IS), Jordan has pledged to hunt down the terror group and "wipe them out completely," a report said.

Jordanian fighter jets bombed several IS weapons depots and training sites on Thursday and Friday. The nation stepped up its military offensive to take on the IS after the terror group released a video purporting to show Jordanian air force Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh being burnt alive in a cage, reported The Independent.

Interior Minister Hussein al-Majali said that the country will track down the militants "wherever they are" and termed the recent air strikes "the beginning of an ongoing process to eliminate them and wipe them out completely."

The statement came a day after IS claimed that Kayla Jean Mueller, a US aid worker who is the last US hostage being held by the terror group, had been killed in a Jordanian air strike in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

The government dismissed the statement as "criminal propaganda" even as an investigation is being carried out to confirm the claim. The US said that it did not see any evidence to confirm the report.

IS released photos claiming to show the bombed site but offered no images of Mueller.