ISIS threatens to kill 2 Japanese hostages
Posted January 20, 2015 5:51 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ISIS has threatened to kill two Japanese citizens unless Tokyo hands over $200 million within 72 hours.
In a video posted online Tuesday, a masked man clad in black and holding a knife stands over two kneeling men in orange jumpsuits in a barren landscape.
The masked man links the threat against the two men’s lives to Japan’s support for the U.S.-led coalition that’s fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe reacted in a news conference in Jerusalem.
He said the international community needs to “deal with terrorists without giving into them.”
But he stopped short of explicitly ruling out the payment of a ransom or negotiations with the captors.