16 November 2014
Last updated at 18:06 ET
The Islamic State (IS) militant group released a video
showing a masked man standing over a severed head, which the White House
confirmed was Mr Kassig.
His parents said he died "as a result of his love for the Syrian people".
Mr Kassig, 26, was taken while working for a refugee group. He is the fifth Western hostage to be killed by IS, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq.
The president praised Mr Kassig as a humanitarian and said he was "taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity".
"Today we grieve together, yet we also recall that the indomitable spirit of goodness and perseverance that burned so brightly in Abdul-Rahman Kassig," he said.
Mr Obama's comments came as he flew back to the US from the G20 summit in Australia.
Mr Kassig's parents, Ed and Paula, from Indiana, said in a statement they were heartbroken by his death.
"We are incredibly proud of our son for living his life according to his humanitarian calling," they said.
"We will work every day to keep his legacy alive as best we can."
Abdul-Rahman Kassig
Kassig's emotional letters home
'British' jihadist
Abdul-Rahman Kassig killing is pure evil, says Obama
TO SEE VIDEO:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30076629
US President Barack Obama has condemned the killing of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig as "an act of pure evil".
His parents said he died "as a result of his love for the Syrian people".
Mr Kassig, 26, was taken while working for a refugee group. He is the fifth Western hostage to be killed by IS, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq.
The president praised Mr Kassig as a humanitarian and said he was "taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity".
"Today we grieve together, yet we also recall that the indomitable spirit of goodness and perseverance that burned so brightly in Abdul-Rahman Kassig," he said.
Mr Obama's comments came as he flew back to the US from the G20 summit in Australia.
Mr Kassig's parents, Ed and Paula, from Indiana, said in a statement they were heartbroken by his death.
"We are incredibly proud of our son for living his life according to his humanitarian calling," they said.
"We will work every day to keep his legacy alive as best we can."
Abdul-Rahman Kassig
- Former US Army Ranger who served in Iraq in 2007
- Trained as an emergency medical technician and founded an organisation to supply refugee camps in Syria
- Snatched in October 2013 while travelling in eastern Syria for a project
- Changed his name from Peter Kassig when he converted to Islam in late 2013
Kassig's emotional letters home
'British' jihadist
The other Western hostages killed by IS were Britons Alan
Henning and David Haines, and US journalists James Foley and Steven
Sotloff.
Those killings were carried out by a man believed to be British. That man bears a resemblance to one of the masked militants pictured in the video showing Mr Kassig.
Unlike previous videos released by IS, the latest one shows the faces of many of the jihadis and specifies its location - Dabiq in Syria's Aleppo province.
It also shows the beheading of 18 Syrian captives, who are identified as army officers and pilots.
Those killings were carried out by a man believed to be British. That man bears a resemblance to one of the masked militants pictured in the video showing Mr Kassig.
Unlike previous videos released by IS, the latest one shows the faces of many of the jihadis and specifies its location - Dabiq in Syria's Aleppo province.
It also shows the beheading of 18 Syrian captives, who are identified as army officers and pilots.
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