Jordan says its warplanes have carried out their first air strikes on Islamic State (IS) targets since the militants released a video showing the killing of a captured Jordanian pilot, the BBC reports.
On their way back, the planes flew over the village of pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh.
Their flight coincided with a visit to the village by Jordanian King Abdullah II, who was meeting the pilot’s family.
The king has vowed to the step up the fight against IS. Jordan is part of a US-led coalition bombing the militants.
Lt Kasasbeh was captured by the militants last year after his F-16 fighter jet crashed in Syria. IS this week released a video showing the pilot being burned alive in a cage, sparking outrage and calls for revenge in Jordan.
State television pictures on Thursday showed the king sitting sombre-faced with Saif al-Kasasbeh, the pilot’s father, at a gathering in Aya village, near the city of Karak, south of the capital Amman.
The king gestured to the skies as the warplanes flew overhead, the Associated Press news agency said.
Mr Kasasbeh told mourners that the aircraft were returning from a raid on Syria’s Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants’ self-declared caliphate, which spans territory in Iraq and Syria.
While Jordan did not specify the location of the air strikes, a security official quoted by Reuters news agency said they had targeted IS in Syria.
“The response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” the king said, after cutting short a trip to the US this week.
Jordan responded to the release of the gruesome video, which depicted the caged pilot engulfed in flames, by executing two convicts, including Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed female suicide bomber.
Jordan had earlier sought to secure the pilot’s release in a swap involving Rishawi.
However, it is now believed that IS had killed the pilot a month ago. The BBC’s Paul Adams in Amman says talk of an exchange appears to have been an IS tactic to string Jordan along and foster doubt among Jordanians over its role in the US-led coalition.