Advertisement

ISIL threatens to kill Japan hostages

The Islamic State group has threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless it receives a $US200 million ($A216.39 million) ransom within 72 hours, but Tokyo vows it will not give in to terrorism.

ISIL has murdered five Western hostages since August last year, but it is the first time that the jihadist group – which has seized swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq – has threatened Japanese captives.

In footage posted on jihadist websites on Tuesday, a black-clad militant brandishing a knife addresses the camera in English, standing between two hostages wearing orange jumpsuits.

Terror threat against police raised to high
• Why we should call Islamic State the name it hates

“You now have 72 hours to pressure your government into making a wise decision by paying the $200 million to save the lives of your citizens,” he says.

The militant says that the ransom demand is to compensate for non-military aid that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to support countries affected by the campaign against ISIL during an ongoing Middle East tour.

In response, Mr Abe demanded the Islamic State group immediately free the two Japanese hostages unharmed.

“I strongly demand that they not be harmed and that they be immediately released,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem. “I am extremely indignant at such an act.”

Mr Abe vowed not give in to terrorism.

“The international community will not give in to terrorism and we have to make sure that we work together,” Mr Abe said as he wound up the Middle East tour and prepared to fly home on Tuesday.

Mr Abe, whose scheduled news conference started an hour late, said the promised aid would be disbursed as promised.

“This posture will not change at all,” he said, stressing that the money was to help the displaced and those made homeless by the conflict in Iraq and Syria.

Mr Abe was to make the short drive from Jerusalem to visit Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah before cutting short his tour to fly home to Japan.

Militant in video spoke in English accent

Since August, ISIL has murdered three Americans and two Britons, posting grisly video footage of their executions.

US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, American aid worker Peter Kassig, and British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines were all beheaded.

The militant who appeared in the video threatening the Japanese hostages spoke with a very similar southern English accent to the militant who appeared in the footage posted of the executions of the Britons and Americans.

The first hostage – Kenji Goto – is a freelance journalist who set up a video production company, named Independent Press, in Tokyo in 1996, feeding video documentaries on the Middle East and other regions to Japanese television networks, including public broadcaster NHK.

The second hostage appeared in previous footage posted last August in which he identified himself as Haruna Yukawa and was shown being roughly interrogated by his captors.

Another online video that appeared at the time showed a man believed to be Yukawa test-firing an AK-47 assault rifle in Syria.

The same video could be seen on the website of Tokyo-based private military firm PMC, which listed Yukawa as its chief executive.

Calls to the firm at the time went unanswered and it was unclear if the company had other employees. Its website said the firm has branch offices in “Turkey, Syria, Africa”.

Meanwhile the British Foreign Office is investigating whether the militant featured in it is the infamous “Jihadi John”.

A spokeswoman from the Foreign Office said: “We are aware of the video and we are studying the content.”

-AAP

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.