Lawmakers condemn 'barbaric' killing of American aid worker held by ISIS

Administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday condemned the killing of Kayla Jean Mueller -- a 26-year-old American aid worker who had been held hostage by Islamic State militants -- calling it a “barbaric” act and “an unspeakably ugly insult to the civilized world.”

“ISIL, and ISIL alone, is the reason Kayla is gone,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in a written statement. “Like our friends in Jordan, our resolve is unshaken to defeat this vile and unspeakably ugly insult to the civilized world and to defeat terrorists whose actions -- killing women, killing children, burning people alive -- are an insult to the religion they falsely claim to represent.”

Mueller’s death had been rumored for days but on Tuesday, the White House and Mueller’s parents co