Jihadis demand $200 million ransom for two Japanese hostages

An online video released Tuesday purported to show the Islamic State group threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless they receive a $200 million ransom in the next 72 hours.

The video shows two hostages in orange jumpsuits that the militants identify as Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruna Yukawa. Japan’s Foreign Ministry’s anti-terrorism section has seen the video and analysts are assessing it, a ministry official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules.

Abe was to appear at a news conference later Tuesday in Jerusalem.

Speaking in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to say whether Japan would pay the ransom.

“If true, the act of threat in exchange of people’s lives is unforgivable and we feel strong indignation,” Suga told journalists. “We will make our utmost effort to win their release as soon as possible.”

However, he said Tokyo would not give in to “terrorism.”

“Our country’s stance — contributing to the fight against terrorism without giving in — remains unchanged,” Suga said.

The video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, mirrored other hostage threats made the group.

The man speaking also resembled and sounded like a British militant involved in other beheadings by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of Iraq and Syria under its self-declared caliphate.

The British fighter in the video said the Japanese were targeted for supporting Western military efforts against it.

“You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims,” the fighter says.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is currently on a three-day swing through Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he is holding talks with leaders about boosting trade ties and restarting peace talks. He is expected to hold a press conference in Jerusalem Tuesday after visiting Ramallah.

Abe, who was re-elected last month, began his trip in Cairo last week where he pledged $2.5 billion in humanitarian and development aid for countries affected by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

In August, a Japanese citizen believed to be Yukawa, a private military company operator in his early 40s, was kidnapped in Syria. His reason for going to Syria remains unclear.

Goto is a respected Japanese freelance journalist who went to report on Syria’s civil war last year and knew of Yukawa.

“I’m in Syria for reporting,” he wrote in an email to an Associated Press journalist in October. “I hope I can convey the atmosphere from where I am and share it.”

The Islamic State group has beheaded and shot dead hundreds of captives — mainly Syrian and Iraqi soldiers — during its sweep across the two countries, and has celebrated its mass killings in extremely graphic videos. It also holds British photojournalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in other extremist propaganda videos, and a 26-year-old American woman captured last year in Syria while working for aid groups.

US officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.

Tuesday’s video marks the first time the Islamic State group specifically has demanded cash for hostages. Though the militant in the video links it to the Japanese funding efforts to counter the Islamic State group, it comes amid recent losses for the extremists targeted in airstrikes by a US-led coalition. Its militants also recently released some 200 mostly elderly Yazidi hostages in Iraq, fueling speculation by Iraqi officials that the group couldn’t support them.

Times of Israel staff and AFP contributed to this report