Headlines
Obama slams IS murder of Japanese hostage
Washington, Jan 25
US President Barack Obama
strongly denounced the murder of a Japanese citizen by the Islamic State
(IS) terrorist group and called for the release of other hostages.
"The
US strongly condemns the brutal murder of Japanese citizen Haruna
Yukawa by the terrorist group IS," the president said in a written
statement Saturday, Xinhua reported.
"Our condolences today are
with the people of Japan for their terrible loss. We renew our call for
the immediate release of Kenji Goto and all other remaining hostages,"
said Obama.
Obama reiterated the determination to defeat IS,
saying "we will work together to bring the perpetrators of these murders
to justice and will continue to take decisive action to degrade and
ultimately defeat IS."
IS demanded Japan to pay a ransom of 200
million US dollars for the lives of the hostages of Haruna Yukawa, 42, a
security contractor from Chiba Prefecture and Kenji Goto, 47, a
freelance journalist from Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture according to a
video released on YouTube earlier this week.
A video posted
online Saturday showed that one of the two men held hostage by Islamic
State jihadists had been executed, though the recording cannot be
verified so far.