Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday denounced as "heinous and despicable" the apparent beheading of a second Japanese hostage by the Islamic State group, as global leaders denounced the jihadists.
ISIS claimed in a video released online Saturday that it had killed 47-year-old Kenji Goto - the second purported beheading of a Japanese hostage in a week - but made no mention of a Jordanian pilot it had also threatened to kill.
Jordan's King Abdullah II said in a statement in Amman that every effort was being
made "to seek the release of the hero pilot Maaz Kassasbeh", captured after his F-16 plane crashed in Syria in December.
The king, who spoke by telephone with Abe, denounced Goto's murder as a "cowardly, criminal act" and offered condolences to his family.
Goto, a respected war correspondent, is seen in an orange outfit - similar to those worn by Guantanamo Bay inmates -- kneeling next to a standing masked man dressed head-to-toe in black with his face covered.
The man, who speaks with a British accent, appears to be the same ISIS militant
who has featured in previous execution videos.
He directly addresses Abe, saying the killing was the result of “reckless” decisions by the Japanese government — a possible reference to aid money that Tokyo gave to help refugees fleeing ISIS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq — and would mark the beginning of a "nightmare for Japan".
The brief video, whose content has not been verified, ends with the image of a body and a decapitated head on top of it.
“After an extensive review, we believe it's highly probable" the video is authentic, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
Japan's premier, who appeared on the verge of tears, pledged not to back down and said his government would increase humanitarian aid to the Middle East.
"I am extremely angry about these heinous and despicable terrorist acts. We will never forgive terrorists," he told a crush of reporters at his office.
“We will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes."
Officially pacifist Japan has long avoided getting embroiled in Middle East conflicts and is rarely the target of religious extremism. So the hostage crisis has been especially shocking for the country.
US President Barack Obama led
international condemnation of the "heinous murder".
"Through his reporting, Mr Goto courageously sought to convey the plight of the Syrian people to the outside world," Obama said.
A spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the "barbaric murder... underscores the violence that so many have been subjected to in Iraq and Syria".
Paris and London also denounced the video, with British Prime Minister David Cameron saying it was "a further reminder that (ISIS) is the embodiment of evil, with no regard for human life".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the apparent killing an "abhorrent, inhuman" act.
The latest video came after Japan, which had leaned heavily on key regional ally Jordan for help, said negotiations to win Goto's release in a prisoner exchange had stalled.
ISIS had vowed to kill Goto and the Jordanian pilot by sunset Thursday unless Amman handed over an Iraqi female jihadist who is on death row for her part in bombings in the capital that killed 60 people in 2005.
"The government has been working with the utmost efforts on the issue — I deeply regret that this is the result," Abe said.
But "Japan will never yield to terrorism... (and) is firmly resolved to fulfil its responsibility in the international community's fight against terrorism".