UN Security Council demands Islamic State hostages freed

AMMAN, Jordan — The UN Security Council demanded the immediate release of all hostages held by the Islamic State group, as Jordan vowed to do everything it can to save the life of a pilot captured by the militants.

The 15-member council condemned on Sunday the “heinous and cowardly” murder of a Japanese journalist after the jihadist group claimed he had been beheaded.

“Those responsible for the killing of Kenji Goto shall be held accountable,” the Security Council said, demanding “the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all those who are kept hostage” by IS and other Al-Qaeda affiliates.

The government of Jordan, meanwhile, vowed to do it all it can to save air force pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured by IS after his plane crashed in Syria in December.

IS militants have seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, ruling with a brutal version of Islamic law. The group has murdered both locals and foreigners, including two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers.

IS claimed in a video released online Saturday that it had killed 47-year-old Goto — the second purported beheading of a Japanese hostage in a week — but made no mention of the Jordanian pilot it had also threatened to kill.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II denounced Goto’s murder as a “cowardly, criminal act” and said every effort was being made “to seek the release of the hero pilot Maaz Kassasbeh”.

IS has been demanding the release of an Iraqi jihadist on death row in Jordan in exchange for Kassasbeh’s life, and Amman said it would hand her over if given proof he is still alive.

The pilot’s father Safi Kassasbeh has begged Amman to save his son’s life “at any price”.