Islamic State says it executed Japanese hostage

The Islamic State group said Saturday that it has beheaded a second Japanese hostage, journalist Kenji Goto, prompting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to vow to step up humanitarian aid to the group's opponents in the Middle East and help bring his killers to justice.

The hardline Islamist group, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, released a video showing a hooded man standing over Goto with a knife to his throat, followed by footage of a head put on the back of a human body. Addressing Abe, the militant in the video said, "Because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin."

Credit: Reuters

The video was released exactly a week after footage appearing to show the beheaded body of another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.

Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said the video appeared to be genuine.

"I feel intense indignation at this utterly cruel and despicable act of terrorism," a grim-faced Abe told an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday, shortly after a video surfaced purporting to show Goto's beheading, after the failure of international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap.

"I will never forgive these terrorists," Abe said. "Japan will work with the international community to bring those responsible for this crime to justice. Japan will never give in to terrorism."

When Islamic State first threatened Goto, 47, and Yukawa, 42, two weeks ago, it justified its move by citing Abe's pledge of $200 million in aid to countries battling the militant group. But in a show of defiance, Abe on Sunday vowed to increase Japan's food, medicine and other humanitarian aid for the Middle East.

Islamic State had said Goto was held along with a Jordanian pilot. Efforts to win their release had focused on the possible release in exchange of an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber jailed in Jordan 10 years ago. The video did not mention the pilot.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the "heinous murder" saying the U.S. would continue to work with allies to destroy the Islamist group. "The United States condemns the heinous murder of Japanese citizen and journalist Kenji Goto by the terrorist group ISIL. Through his reporting, Mr Goto courageously sought to convey the plight of the Syrian people to the outside world. Standing together with a broad coalition of allies and partners, the United States will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL," Obama vowed.

British Premier David Cameron called Goto's killing "appalling," saying, "I utterly condemn what appears to be the despicable and appalling murder of Kenji Goto. It is a further reminder that ISIL is the embodiment of evil, with no regard for human life."

French President Francois Hollande "resolutely condemned the brutal murder of Japanese citizen Kenji Goto. France stands in solidarity with Japan in this new ordeal," a statement by his office said, adding that France and Japan would "continue to work together for peace in the Middle East and to eliminate terrorist groups."

Japanese coalition and opposition politicians also expressed anger, but in a sign of a potential political split, the main opposition party questioned the wisdom of provoking Islamic State.

"We must not appear to be giving in to terrorism," said Yukio Edano, secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan, "but at the same time, putting our subjective intentions aside, there is no need to provoke and send a message that can be mistakenly interpreted as giving the other side an excuse," he said in a discussion programme on public broadcaster NHK.

Meanwhile, for the first time since the U.S. launched its war against Islamic State, the military said a senior operative with the radical terrorist group has been killed in an airstrike near the Iraqi city of Mosul on Friday.

The U.S. Central Command has identified the operative as Abu Malik, also known as Salih Jasim Mohammed Falah al-Sabawi, saying he was a "chemical weapons engineer" at the Muthanna chemical weapons plant who joined al-Qaida in Iraq, in 2005. "His death is expected to temporarily degrade and disrupt the terrorist network and diminish ISIL's ability to potentially produce and use chemical weapons against innocent people," the statement said.

Abu Malik had been "involved in operations to produce chemical weapons in 2005, and planned attacks in Mosul with AQI [Al-Qaida in Iraq]," Agence France-Presse quoted a U.S. defense official as saying.

"Based on his training and experience, he was judged to be capable of creating harmful and deadly chemical agents. We know ISIL is attempting to pursue a chemical weapons capability, but we have no definitive confirmation that ISIL currently possess chemical weapons," the official said.

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