2015-01-26 08:11:00

Japan working to free hostage


(Vatican Radio) Japan's government says it is working to free a journalist held hostage by Islamic State extremists in Iraq or Syria. The group says it has executed another Japanese man it was holding, prompting condemnation from world leaders and the United Nations Security Council. Alastair Wanklyn reports from Tokyo.

From Tokyo Alastair Wanklyn reports

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said an image of a man's body appears to be that of a Japanese hostage. He said...violence like this is unforgivable. 

In a statement, the United Nations Security Council "deplored the apparent murder" of Haruna Yukawa. It said the Islamic State group "must be defeated" and the "intolerance, violence and hatred it espouses must be stamped out."

Last week, extremists threatened to kill two Japanese captives, demanding 200 million dollars in ransom. 

In a later audio message, the surviving hostage, a journalist, appears to say there is now no ransom, but his captors want to swap him for this woman:

A jailed suicide bomber whose explosives failed when accomplices killed about 60 people in hotels in the Jordanian capital, eight years ago. 

There's no confirmation of the message's authenticity.

But Japan's government now has a team of officials in Jordan, who say...they'll do whatever it takes to save the journalist's life.

 

 

                                                                                








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