ISIS Says Countdown For Japan’s Hostages has Begun
NY Post By Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach. Japan promised Saturday not to give up “until the very end” on efforts to rescue two Japanese hostages threatened with beheading by Islamic militants demanding a $200 million ransom, after a deadline passed with no word from the captors.
Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group posted an online warning Friday afternoon that the “countdown has begun” for the extremists to kill 47-year-old Kenji Goto and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa. The extremists gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe 72 hours to pay the ransom, and the deadline expired Friday.
The posting, which appeared on a forum popular among Islamic State militants and sympathizers, did not show any images of the hostages, who are believed to be held somewhere in Syria. (Read more on how ISIS says countdown for Japan’s hostages has begun HERE)
______________________________________________________
Was the New ISIS Hostage Video Filmed Indoors?
By Associated Press. The video of two Japanese hostages being held by the Islamic State group seems, like past IS videos, made in an arid, desert setting. But suspicions are emerging that the message was not prepared outdoors at all.
An expert in these videos said it was more likely completed in an indoor studio with a false backdrop made to appear that it was outdoors.
Kenji Goto, a journalist, and Haruna Yukawa, who runs a security company, are seen kneeling in orange jumpsuits with a masked man holding a knife between them. The hostage-holders are threatening to kill the men if the Japanese government does not pay a $200 million ransom.
The video, posted on militant websites Tuesday and identified as being made by the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm, appears to have been filmed in the same location as those showing American hostages James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig and British captives David Haines and Alan Henning. (Read more from this story HERE)
Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.
