US trial for member of Islamic State group begins in Virginia

El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, is accused of kidnap and murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller

Prosecutors told a federal jury in Virginia on Wednesday that a British national on trial for terrorist acts that resulted in the gruesome deaths of four American hostages had a reputation for outsize brutality.

Opening arguments began in the first trial on US soil of an alleged major figure in the Islamic State (IS) group - an accused member of the kidnap-and-murder cell of four men called the Beatles" by their hostages.