A VIGIL is being held for people to pray for the safe return of hostage Alan Henning who was captured by militants while delivering aid to refugees in Syria.

All are invited to take part in the event tomorrow to join together in prayer for the release of Mr Henning, who was kidnapped by Islamic State.

It has been organised by Bolton Interfaith Council and will be held at Bolton Council of Mosques in Vicarage Street at 6pm.

Chan Parmar, strategic officer for Bolton Interfaith Council, said: “It is a sad reflection when someone like Alan Henning, a man personally committed to helping the needy, desperate and homeless, is held hostage. All our faiths teach us to show compassion for others and to value each and every life.

“One hopes that Alan's humanitarian work and good intentions will have some impact on the minds of people who are holding him.

“Tomorrow evening many of us from all sections of our community will get together to pray for his safe return as well as of others who should be released unharmed."

In three gruesome videos releases in recent weeks, IS militants have beheaded two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines.

Mr Henning, of Salford, who travelled to Syria with a Bolton aid convoy, was shown at the end of the most recent video — released on September 13 — in which Mr Haines was brutally murdered.