Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday. Photo: ReutersJapan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday. Photo: Reuters

The militant group Islamic State released an online video yesterday purporting to show two Japanese captives and threatening to kill them unless it received $200 million in ransom.

A black-clad figure with a knife, standing in a barren landscape along with two kneeling men wearing orange clothing, said the Japanese public had 72 hours to pressure their government to stop its “foolish” support for the US-led coalition waging a military campaign against Islamic State.

“To the Prime Minister of Japan: Although you are more than 8,500km away from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade,” said the militant, who spoke in English.

He demanded “200 million” without specifying a currency, but an Arabic subtitle identified it as US dollars.

The footage named the men as Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.

The video was not dated, but on a visit to Cairo last Saturday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged around $200 million in non-military assistance for countries battling Islamic State.

Abe, speaking in Jerusalem yesterday near the end of a six-day tour of the Middle East, said Islamic State’s threat against the two purported captives was “unacceptable”.

“Extremism and Islam are completely different things,” Abe said.

“We strongly demand the immediate release of the Japanese citizens unharmed. The international community needs to respond firmly and cooperate without caving in to terrorism.”

The video resembled others distributed by Islamic State outlets in which captives were threatened or killed. It appeared to be the first time that an Islamic State video specifically demanded cash for captives.

Extremism and Islam are completely different things

Abe stressed that Japan’s aid announced on his trip was for humanitarian purposes, and said Tokyo would keep contributing to peace and prosperity inthe region.

“We’ll coordinate with the international community from now on, and contribute more to [the] peace and prosperity of the region. This policy is unwavering and we won’t change this policy.”

The apparent capture of the two men marks the first hostage crisis for Abe’s government since January 2013, when 10 Japanese were killed by Islamist militants at a gas complex in Algeria.

Asked whether Japan would pay ransom to secure the captives’ release, Abe replied: “With regard to this case, we attach the utmost priority to saving lives, and gathering information with the help of other countries.”

In Tokyo, Japan’s foreign ministry said it was checking the authenticity of the video. In televised remarks, Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister of Defence Akira Sato told reporters that, after viewing the footage, he thought it might be a “composite”.

The militant in the footage, who spoke with a British accent, appeared to have the same voice as a jihadist shown with captives in previous Islamic State videos. Similar videos have shown captives beheaded, including Western aid workers and journalists.

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