IS beheads 1 hostage
Video shows IS beheaded Haruna Yukawa
Tokyo, Jan. 24: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said early on Sunday that Japan was still working to free two hostages held by the extremist Islamic State group while calling a new online video about their fate “outrageous and unforgiveable.”
The purported message claimed one of the Japanese hostages had been killed and demanded a prisoner exchange for the other. But the post was deleted quickly on Saturday, and militants on a website affiliated with the Islamic State group disagreed about the message’s authenticity.
Media could not verify the contents of the message, which varied greatly from previous videos released by the Islamic State, which now holds a third of both Syria and Iraq.
Citing the release of the photo purporting to show hostage Haruna Yukawa had been killed, Abe said at a Cabinet meet: “Such an act of terrorism is outrageous and unforgivable. We feel strong resentment, and strongly condemn the act.”
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said officials were still working to verifying the video.
White House National Security Council said US officials were working also to confirm whether it was authentic.