INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The university a U.S. aid worker purportedly beheaded by Islamic State group militants attended says if he has indeed been killed the group “accomplished nothing through this abhorrent act of violence.”



Butler University President James Danko says in a statement that if the Islamic State group indeed killed 26-year-old Indianapolis native Peter Kassig “all it has done is taken away a good person who wanted to help the Syrian people.”



Danko says the school offers prayers and support for Kassig's family and the humanitarian causes Kassig pursued in the Middle East. He says Kassig “approached life selflessly and courageously.”



The Islamic State group released a video Sunday in which a militant claims to have beheaded Kassig, who was captured last year while helping victims of the Syrian civil war.