The Islamic State Thread

JAPAN PREMIER CONDEMNS NEW HOSTAGE VIDEO AS DEADLINE LOOMS

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Wednesday condemned as "despicable" an Islamic State video threatening to kill a Japanese hostage within 24 hours.

An audio message on the video posted online late Tuesday appeared to be the voice of journalist Kenji Goto pleading for the Jordanian and Japanese governments to carry out a prisoner exchange to save his life.

"I feel strong resentment toward such an extremely despicable act," Abe told reporters early Wednesday.

In the recording, Goto said the jihadist group would kill him and a Jordanian Air Force pilot captured in Syria unless a convicted terrorist held by Jordan, Sajida al-Rishawi, was freed within 24 hours, which would be late Wednesday in Japan.

Iraqi al-Rishawi is a would-be suicide bomber who was sentenced to death for taking part in a series of attacks in the Jordanian capital Amman in 2005. She said her bomb had failed to detonate, broadcaster Al Jazeera reported.

"Her for me, a straight exchange. Any more delays by the Jordanian government will mean they are responsible for the death of the pilot which will then be followed by mine. I only have 24 hours left to live, and the pilot has even less," Goto says in the audio recording.

On Sunday, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the beheading of Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday that Jordanian authorities were considering releasing al-Rishawi in exchange for Goto and the pilot, First Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh.

"Japan has sought cooperation from Jordan in an extremely severe situation for Mr Goto's swift release, and this policy will not change," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters early Wednesday.

The militant group first demanded a 200-million-dollar ransom for the release of the two Japanese in a video posted online on January 20. Its deadline for the payment expired Friday.


Source : Sapa-dpa /mr
Date : 28 Jan 2015 05:43
 
ISLAMIC STATE RELEASES NEW AUDIO MESSAGE BY JAPANESE HOSTAGE
By KARIN LAUB and MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH

The Islamic State group released a message late Wednesday purportedly extending the deadline for Jordan's release of an Iraqi would-be hotel bomber linked to al-Qaida.

The message, read by a voice claiming to be Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, was released online after Jordan offered a precedent-setting prisoner swap to the Islamic State group, desperately seeking to save a Jordanian air force pilot the militants purportedly threatened to kill, along with Goto.

The recording, in English, says the Jordanians must present Sajida al-Rishawi at the Turkish border by sunset Thursday, or Jordanian pilot Mu'as al-Kasaseabeh will be killed.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the contents of the recording which was distributed on Twitter by IS-affiliated accounts.

In Tokyo on Thursday, Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the government was analyzing the latest message. He said Japan was doing its utmost for the release of Goto, working with nations in the region, including Turkey, Jordan and Israel.

"We are trying to confirm (the message), but we think there is a high probability that this is Mr. Goto's voice," he said.

Suga refused comment on the specifics of the talks with Jordan, saying the situation was developing. The Cabinet was meeting to assess the latest developments.

In comments in Parliament, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his condemnation of the IS hostage-taking. "This heinous terrorist act is totally unforgivable," he said.

Releasing the would-be hotel bomber linked to al-Qaida would breach Jordan's usual hard-line approach to the extremists, setting a precedent for negotiating with them.

The Islamic State group has not publicly demanded prisoner releases before and Jordan's main ally, the United States, opposes negotiations with extremists.

But King Abdullah II faces growing domestic pressure to bring the pilot home. The pilot's father said he met on Wednesday with Jordan's king who he said assured him that "everything will be fine."

Efforts to free al-Kaseasbeh and Goto gained urgency after a purported online ultimatum claimed Tuesday that the Islamic State group would kill both hostages within 24 hours if Jordan did not free al-Rishawi.

The scope of a possible swap and of the Islamic State group's demands remained unclear.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said Jordan is ready to trade the prisoner, an Iraqi woman convicted of involvement in deadly Amman hotel bombings in 2005, for the pilot. Al-Momani made no mention of Goto.

Al-Rishawi's release would be a coup for the extremists, who have already overrun large parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq. Jordan is part of a U.S.-led military alliance that has carried out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq in recent months.

The pilot's capture has hardened popular opposition to the campaign in Jordan, analysts said

"Public opinion in Jordan is putting huge pressure on the government to negotiate with the Islamic State group," said Marwan Shehadeh, a scholar with ties to ultra-conservative Islamic groups in Jordan. "If the government doesn't make a serious effort to release him, the morale of the entire military will deteriorate and the public will lose trust in the political regime."

The pilot's family has criticized the government, and several dozen protesters including his father gathered Wednesday outside King Abdullah's palace in Amman.

"Listen, Abdullah, the son of Jordan (the pilot) must be returned home," the protesters chanted.

The pilot's father, Safi al-Kasaesbeh, was allowed into the palace, along with his wife, to meet Abdullah.

"The king told me that Muath is like my son and God willing everything will be fine," al-Kasaesbeh said afterward.

Jordan reportedly is holding indirect talks with the militants through religious and tribal leaders in Iraq to secure the release of the hostages.

In his brief statement, al-Momani only said Jordan is willing to swap al-Rishawi for the pilot. He did not say if such an exchange is being arranged. Al-Rishawi was sentenced to death for her involvement in the al-Qaida attack on hotels in Amman that killed 60 people.

In Tokyo, Goto's mother, Junko Ishido has been appealing to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to keep trying to save Goto.

"Kenji has only a little time left,"

Earlier in response to a ruling party lawmaker's question in Parliament, Abe reiterated his condemnation of the IS hostage-taking.

"The heinous terrorist act is totally unforgivable," he said.

The militants reportedly have killed a Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, and the crisis has stunned Japan.

The 26-year-old pilot, al-Kasaseabeh, was seized after his Jordanian F-16 crashed in December near the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. He is the first foreign military pilot the militants have captured since the coalition began its airstrikes in August.

Previous captives may have been freed in exchange for ransom, although the governments involved have refused to confirm any payments were made.

Goto, a freelance journalist, was captured in October in Syria, apparently while trying to rescue Yukawa, 42, who was taken hostage last summer.

The Islamic State group broke with al-Qaida's central leadership in 2013 and has clashed with its Syrian branch, but it reveres the global terror network's former Iraqi affiliate, which battled U.S. forces and claimed the 2005 Amman attack.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 29 Jan 2015 07:46
 
JAPAN AWAITS NEWS OF ISLAMIC STATE HOSTAGE

The fate of a Japanese and a Jordanian hostage held by the Islamic State militant group was uncertain Friday after a deadline for a prisoner swap passed.

Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and Jordanian pilot Mu'ath al-Kasasbeh were being held by the Islamic State group, but Amman said it wanted proof that the pilot was alive before releasing a convicted terrorist in exchange.

The deadline for the release was Thursday at sunset in Iraq.

"I'm very worried. I would like my son's life to be saved in exchange for mine," Junko Ishido, the mother of Goto, said after the deadline had passed.

"All efforts are being made to secure the release of Mr Kenji Goto," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a parliamentary session on Friday.

Major Japanese newspapers had the hostage crisis as their top story Friday.

Jordanian Minister of State for Information Mohammed al-Mumani told Japanese media after the deadline passed that his country would continue to work closely with Japan for the release of Goto.

Jordan said it wanted proof that al-Kasasbeh was alive before it moved ahead with a prisoner swap for convict Sajida al-Rishawi.


Source : Sapa-dpa /mr
Date : 30 Jan 2015 07:51
 
FAMILIES PLEAD FOR LIVES OF IS HOSTAGES AS SWAP HOPES FADE
By ELAINE KURTENBACH and KARIN LAUB

A deadline of sunset Thursday for a possible prisoner swap purportedly set by the Islamic State group holding a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian military pilot passed with no sign of whether the two men were still alive.

Japanese officials had no new progress to report Friday after a late night that ended with the Jordanian government saying it would only release an al-Qaida prisoner from death row if it got proof the airman was alive.

"There is nothing I can tell you," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters. He reiterated Japan's "strong trust" in the Jordanians to help save the Japanese hostage, freelance journalist Kenji Goto.

Suga said the government had been in close contact with Goto's wife, Rinko Jogo, who released a statement overnight pleading for her husband's life.

"I fear that this is the last chance for my husband, and we now have only a few hours left," Jogo said in a statement released through the Rory Peck Trust, a London-based organization for freelance journalists.

An audio message purportedly posted online Thursday by the Islamic State group said the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, would be killed if Sajida al-Rishawi, the al-Qaida prisoner, was not delivered to the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, Iraq time. There was no mention on whether the pilot or Goto would be traded for the woman.

The authenticity of the recording could not be verified independently by the AP. But the possibility of a swap was raised Wednesday when Jordan said it was willing to trade Sajida al-Rishawi for the pilot.

After sundown in the Middle East, with no news on the fate of either the pilot or Goto, the families' agonizing wait dragged on.

Goto's wife said she had avoided public comment until the last minute to try to protect her daughters, an infant and a two-year-old, from media attention.

In the Jordanian capital, Amman, the pilot's brother Jawdat al-Kaseasbeh, said his family had "no clue" about where the negotiations stood.

"We received no assurances from anyone that he is alive," al-Kaseasbeh, told The Associated Press. "We are waiting, just waiting."

On Thursday afternoon, Jordan's government spokesman, Mohammed al-Momani, signaled that, in any case, a swap was on hold because the hostage-takers had not delivered proof the pilot is still alive.

Al-Rishawi, 44, faces death by hanging for her role in a suicide bombing, one of three simultaneous attacks on Amman hotels in November 2005 that killed 60 people. She survived because her belt of explosives didn't detonate. She initially confessed, but later recanted, saying she was an unwilling participant.

Al-Rishawi is from the Iraqi city of Ramadi and has close family ties to the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida, a precursor of the Islamic State group. Three of her brothers were al-Qaida operatives killed in fighting in Iraq.

Jordan has faced tough choices in the hostage drama.

Releasing al-Rishawi, implicated in the worst terror attack in Jordan, would be at odds with the government's tough stance on Islamic extremism.

However, King Abdullah II is under domestic pressure to bring home the pilot, who was captured in December after his Jordanian F-16 crashed near the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. He is the first foreign military pilot to be captured since the U.S. and its allies began airstrikes against the Islamic State more than four months ago.

Jordan's participation in the U.S.-led airstrikes is unpopular in the kingdom, and the pilot is seen by some as the victim of a war they feel the country shouldn't be involved in.

Al-Kaseasbeh's relatives have expressed such views and accused the government of bungling efforts to win his freedom.

"They abandoned Muath, the son of the army!" chanted protesters gathered at a "diwan," or meeting place, in Amman for tribesmen from Karak, in southern Jordan.

Late Thursday, Goto's wife Rinko Jogo made her first public appeal for her husband's life, saying she had not spoken out previously because she was trying to shield their daughters, a newborn and a 2-year-old, from media attention.

She revealed that she exchanged several emails with her husband's captors, and that in the past 20 hours she received one that appeared to be their final demand.

She urged the Japanese and Jordanian governments to finalize a swap that would free both hostages. "I beg the Jordanian and Japanese governments to understand that the fates of both men are in their hands," she said.

The hostage drama began last week after the Islamic State group released a video showing Goto and another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa kneeling in orange jumpsuits beside a masked man who threatened to kill them in 72 hours unless Japan paid a $200 million ransom. That demand has since apparently shifted to one for the release of al-Rishawi.

The militants have reportedly killed Yukawa, 42, although that has not been confirmed.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 30 Jan 2015 05:09
 
SENIOR KURDISH MILITARY COMMANDER KILLED IN IRAQ
By SAMEER N. YACOUB

Officials say a senior Kurdish military commander and eight Kurdish fighters have been killed in clashes with Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.

Brig. Khatab Omar says Brig. Gen. Shirko Fatih was killed as he was leading Kurdish peshmerga troops in a battle against IS extremists early on Friday outside the city of Kirkuk.

He says at least eight Kurdish fighters were killed during the clashes.

Omar says IS militants attacked the peshmerga fighters' positions south of Kirkuk, which is located 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.

The casualties come as Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops, with Islamic State militants now in control of about a third of the country.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Iraqi officials say a twin bombing at a crowded market in Baghdad has killed eight people.

Police officials say the Friday morning attack started with a bomb exploding near carts selling used clothes in the city's central Bab al-Sharqi area.

The second explosion, caused by a car bomb, went off two minutes later targeting people who rushed to help the victims from the first blast. Police and hospital officials said along with the eight killed, 20 people were wounded at the market.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops. Militants from the Islamic State group now control about a third of the country.


Source : Sapa-AP /ma
Date : 30 Jan 2015 12:07
 
AT LEAST 44 KILLED IN BAGHDAD TWIN BOMBING

A twin bombing targeting a market in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday killed at least 44 people, Iraqi media reported.

Around 70 were wounded in the back-to-back bomb explosions in the market of al-Bab al-Sharqi district in central Baghdad, independent Iraqi broadcaster Sumaria News said, citing an unnamed police official.

The victims included security personnel who were in the market that sells used military outfits, according to the official.

No one has claimed responsibility.

The attack comes as Iraqi government troops, backed by a US-led coalition, are battling the militant Islamic State group, which controls swathes of Iraq.

The al-Qaeda splinter militia also rules considerable areas in neighbouring Syria.


Source : Sapa-dpa /ma
Date : 30 Jan 2015 11:55
 
ISLAMIC STATE GROUP SILENT AS DEADLINE PASSES WITH NO SWAP

By Elaine Kurtenbach and Karin Laub

The fates of a Japanese journalist and Jordanian military pilot were unknown Friday, a day after the latest purported deadline for a possible prisoner swap passed with no further word from the Islamic State group holding them captive.

"Government institutions are working around the clock on the case of pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh," Jordanian military spokesman Mamdouh al-Ameri said in a statement. "We will inform you of any developments in due time."

He urged Jordanians not to listen to rumors.

Jordan has said it will only release an al-Qaida prisoner from death row if it gets proof the pilot is alive and so far has received no such evidence from the hostage-takers.

Officials in Tokyo also said they had no progress to report.

"There is nothing I can tell you," said government spokesman Yoshihide Suga, reiterating Japan's "strong trust" in the Jordanians to help save the Japanese hostage, freelance journalist Kenji Goto.

Suga said the government was in close contact with Goto's wife, Rinko Jogo, who released a statement late Thursday pleading for her husband's life.

An audio message purportedly posted online by jihadis said the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, would be killed if Sajida al-Rishawi, the al-Qaida prisoner, was not delivered to the Turkish border by sunset on Thursday, Iraq time. It was not clear from the recording what would happen to Goto if the Iraqi woman was not turned over by the deadline.

The authenticity of the recording could not be verified independently by the AP. But the possibility of a swap was raised Wednesday when Jordan said it was willing to trade al-Rishawi for the pilot.

The pilot's father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, said Friday that he had no word on the fate of his son and had not received any update from Jordanian authorities.

"I have nothing," he said, speaking after Muslim noon prayers in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

With no news on the fate of either the pilot or Goto, their families' agonizing wait dragged on.

Jordan faces a tough choice over whether to release al-Rishawi, 44, who faces death by hanging for her role in a suicide bombing, one of three simultaneous attacks on Amman hotels in November 2005 that killed 60 people. She survived because her belt of explosives didn't detonate. She initially confessed, but later recanted, saying she was an unwilling participant.

She is from the Iraqi city of Ramadi and has close family ties to the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida, a precursor of the Islamic State group. Three of her brothers were al-Qaida operatives killed in fighting in Iraq.

Releasing al-Rishawi, implicated in the worst terror attack in Jordan, would be at odds with the government's tough stance on Islamic extremism.

However, King Abdullah II faces public pressure to bring home the pilot, who was captured in December after his Jordanian F-16 crashed near the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. He is the first foreign military pilot to be captured since the U.S. and its allies began airstrikes against the Islamic State more than four months ago.

Jordan's participation in the U.S.-led airstrikes is unpopular in the kingdom, and the pilot is seen by some as a victim of a war they feel the country shouldn't be involved in.

The hostage drama began last week after the Islamic State group released a video showing Goto and another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa kneeling in orange jumpsuits beside a masked man who threatened to kill them in 72 hours unless Japan paid a $200 million ransom. That demand later apparently shifted to one for the release of al-Rishawi.

The militants have reportedly killed Yukawa, 42, although that has not been confirmed.

The crisis prompted the Japanese Foreign Ministry to issue a warning Friday to journalists to avoid the border town in Turkey that could be a crossing point from Syria if a prisoner swap goes ahead.

It noted that Islamic State militants were likely aware of who was in the area. "We cannot dismiss the possibility of a kidnapping of Japanese journalists or of other risks to them," it said.

"Under such circumstances, reporting on Turkish-Syrian border, even on the Turkey side, and of course in Syria, is likely to lead to unanticipated risks and be very dangerous," the statement said, reiterating earlier warnings. "We strongly urge you to refrain from visiting or staying in the area for reporting, and to leave immediately."

The warning followed news that a Japanese journalist helping cover a possible prisoner swap at the border died in a car crash near the area Thursday, according to Turkish officials.

Kazumi Takaya, based in Turkey for 22 years, was working as a translator for Fuji TV at the time of the crash, local media reports said.

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Laub reported from Amman, Jordan.

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Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad, and Miki Toda, Kaori Hitomi and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /gf
Date : 30 Jan 2015 15:34
 
HORROR IN JAPAN AS VIDEO PURPORTS TO SHOW HOSTAGE BEHEADED
By ELAINE KURTENBACH and KARIN LAUB

Appalled and saddened by news of journalist Kenji Goto's purported beheading by Islamic State extremists, Japan ordered heightened security precautions Sunday and said it would persist with its non-military support for fighting terrorism.

The failure to save Goto raised fears for the life of a Jordanian fighter pilot also held by the militant group that controls about a third of both Syria and Iraq. Unlike some earlier messages delivered in the crisis, the video that circulated online late Saturday purporting to show a militant beheading Goto did not mention the pilot.

Jordan renewed an offer Sunday to swap an al-Qaida prisoner for the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who was seized after his F-16 crashed near the Islamic State group's de facto capital, Raqqa, Syria, in December.

Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani told The Associated Press that "we are still ready to hand over" Sajida al-Rishawi, who faces death by hanging for her role in triple hotel bombings in Jordan in 2005.

Al-Momani also said his country spared no effort to free Goto.

The slaying of Goto, a freelance reporter whose work focused on refugees, children and other victims of war, shocked this country, which until now had not become directly embroiled in the fight against the militants.

"I feel indignation over this immoral and heinous act of terrorism," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters after convening an emergency Cabinet meeting.

"When I think of the grief of his family, I am left speechless," he said. "We are filled with deep regret."

Threats from the Islamic State group prompted an order for tighter security at airports and at Japanese facilities overseas, such as embassies and schools, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said.

He said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on the status of the Jordanian pilot.

With no updates for days, al-Kaseasbeh's family appealed to the government for information on his situation. But for Goto's family and friends, the beheading shattered any hopes for his rescue.

"Kenji has died, and my heart is broken. Facing such a tragic death, I'm just speechless," Goto's mother Junko Ishido told reporters.

"I was hoping Kenji might be able to come home," said Goto's brother, Junichi Goto, in a separate interview. "I was hoping he would return and thank everyone for his rescue, but that's impossible, and I'm bitterly disappointed."

According to his friends and family, Goto traveled to Syria in late October to try to save Haruna Yukawa, 42, who was taken hostage in August and who was shown as purportedly killed in an earlier video.

"He was kind and he was brave," said Yukawa's father Shoichi. "He tried to save my son."

"It's utterly heartbreaking," he said, crying and shaking. "People killing other people - it's so deplorable. How can this be happening?"

Abe vowed to continue providing humanitarian aid to countries fighting the Islamic State extremists. Bowing to terrorist intimidation would prevent Japan from providing medical assistance and other aid it views as necessary for helping to restore stability in the region, he and other officials say.

But the government spokesman, Suga, said Abe would not link the hostage crisis to his efforts to expand Japan's military role in "collective self-defense" with the U.S. and other allies.

The White House released a statement in which President Barack Obama also condemned "the heinous murder" and praised Goto's reporting, saying he "courageously sought to convey the plight of the Syrian people to the outside world."

The White House said that while it isn't confirming the authenticity of the video itself, it has confirmed that Goto has been slain. Japan also has deemed the video highly likely to be authentic, said the defense minister, Gen Nakatani.

Highlighted by militant sympathizers on social media sites, the video bore the symbol of the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm.

Though it could not be immediately independently verified by The Associated Press, it conformed to other beheading videos by the group.

Many Japanese expressed dismay over the news.

"I feel so sad and angry. Why didn't the government rescue Kenji?" said Mayuko Tamura, 31, a pediatrician who along with her husband and their 8-month-old baby joined a few dozen people gathered in front of Abe's official residence Sunday afternoon to show their sympathy for the hostages.

In Jordan late Saturday night, relatives and supporters of the pilot held a candlelit vigil inside a family home in Karak, al-Kaseasbeh's hometown in southern Jordan.

We "decided to hold this protest to remind the Jordanian government of the issue of the imprisoned pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh," said the pilot's brother Jawdat al-Kaseasbeh, holding picture of Muath with a caption: "We are all Muath."

Al-Kaseasbeh's uncle, Yassin Rawashda, said the family just wants to be kept informed.

"We want to know how the negotiations are going ... in a positive direction or not. And we want the family to be (involved) in the course of negotiations," he said.

Jordan and Japan reportedly conducted indirect negotiations with the militants through Iraqi tribal leaders, but late on Friday the Japanese envoy sent to Amman to work on the hostage crisis reported a deadlock in those efforts.

The hostage drama began more than a week ago when the militants threatened to kill Goto and Yukawa in 72 hours unless Japan paid $200 million.

Later, the militants' demand shifted to seeking the release of al-Rishawi, who survived the 2005 attack that killed 60 people when her explosive belt failed to detonate in the worst terror attack in Jordan's history.

The deadline for that exchange passed without word, leaving the families of the pilot and journalist waiting in agony. Al-Rishawi has close family ties to the Iraq branch of al-Qaida, a precursor of the Islamic State group.

The U.N. Security Council issued a statement Sunday demanding "the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all those who are kept hostage" by the Islamic State group. Council members underlined the need to bring those responsible for Goto's "heinous and cowardly murder" to justice and stressed that the Islamic State group "must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence and hatred it espouses must be stamped out."

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Laub reported from Amman, Jordan.

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Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Cairo, Najib Abu Jobein in Karak, Jordan, and Mari Yamaguchi, Yuri Kageyama, Noriko Kitano, Kaori Hitomi, Emily Wang, Miki Toda in Tokyo contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /gf
Date : 01 Feb 2015 20:13
 
HOSTAGE KILLINGS HIGHLIGHT THREAT, MEAGER OPTIONS FOR JAPAN

The killing of two Japanese taken hostage by the Islamic State group has savagely driven home the high stakes Japan faces and limited options it can muster in such circumstances.

It also offers a glimpse into how Japan is struggling to handle the rising menace of terrorism.

Until this crisis, Japan had not become directly embroiled in the fight against the militants, who now control about a third of both Syria and neighboring Iraq in a self-declared caliphate. Tokyo's backing for U.S.-led air strikes against the Islamic State group is confined to financial and humanitarian aid for refugees and other non-military support for countries affected by the conflict.

That proved no hindrance for the jihadis, and Japan is re-examining its response to the threat, both abroad and at home, mindful also of Tokyo's preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday that the government convened a meeting on counterterrorism to review the situation.

"During the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, there will be many visitors from overseas and needless to say, we will implement full-scale measures to prepare," Suga.

Japan's options for trying to free the hostages were limited. Tokyo lacks a strong diplomatic presence in the region and has a very small corps of Arab experts - only about 30 people in this case, the foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, told parliament.

It is unclear whether paying ransom would have been an option. Moreover, the military is confined by the constitution, drafted by U.S. occupying forces after World War II, to a strictly self-defense role and would be unable to stage a rescue attempt.

A video over the weekend showing the beheading of journalist Kenji Goto, purportedly from the Islamic State militants, carried chilling threats to single out Japanese anywhere as targets.

Addressing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a man resembling a militant seen in other beheading videos by the Islamic State group says, "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."

Abe has made security a top priority of his administration. He ordered greater vigilance at airports and at Japanese facilities overseas, such as embassies and schools. The government already was considering sending troops for overseas rescues.

In parliament Tuesday, opposition lawmakers questioned Abe over the crisis.

Akira Koike, an opposition Japan Communist Party lawmaker, demanded to know if Abe was mindful of the plight of the two hostages when he announced $200 million in humanitarian aid to nations fighting the militants. The announcement came just days before the release of a $200 million ransom demand for Goto and for the other hostage, gun aficionado and adventurer Haruna Yukawa.

Since the ransom message addressed Abe and demanded the same amount for the hostages, some critics contend he should not have directly mentioned the Islamic State group in announcing the aid.

"You made that speech knowing that Mr. Yukawa and Mr. Goto had been already taken captive by the Islamic State group. Were you aware that such a speech may have been risky for the two hostages?" Koike asked.

Abe rejects those misgivings and says he took the hostages' plight into account when making his speech.

"It is most important to support the countries that are taking in refugees and fighting at the frontline. It is only natural to show our solidarity to those countries," Abe said.

"Japan has made non-military contributions in the area, and it was our responsibility to show Japan's commitment in that direction in a firm message in the Middle East," he said.

Abe already has sought and won a reinterpretation of the constitution by his Cabinet allowing defense of an ally, such as the U.S., in limited conditions under a concept known as "collective self-defense."

Japan's aid may help discourage refugees from becoming recruits of the Islamic State group, but Abe should have used more caution, said Koichiro Tanaka, chief Middle East analyst at the Institute of Energy and Economics in Tokyo.

Nationalists in Japan might try to use the hostage crisis as a pretext for a stronger military, said Stephen Nagy, a professor of politics at International Christian University in Tokyo.

But he notes that the U.S. has lost several citizens to the Islamic State group over the past months "and has been incapable of rescuing them. And they have apparently the most sophisticated military in the world and experience in such rescues."

For Japan, and possibly the rest of Asia, a more urgent issue is the possibility Islamic State extremists may be more likely to target their citizens, using them as pawns in Middle East regional politics, Nagy says.


Source : Sapa-AP /nsm
Date : 03 Feb 2015 08:24
 
SLAIN HOSTAGE'S 4-YEAR-OLD TWEET EMBRACED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

Kenji Goto's words, now more than four years old, have taken on a new poignancy.

"Closing my eyes and holding still. It's the end if I get mad or scream. It's close to a prayer. Hate is not for humans. Judgment lies with God. That's what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters."

That tweet from Sept. 7, 2010, has been embraced by social media users as a fitting memorial to the 47-year-old freelance journalist. It had 20,000 retweets by Monday, and was being repeated by others by the minute.

Early Sunday, news emerged that Goto had been killed by extremists of the Islamic State group after efforts to secure his release from months of captivity failed. His reported death followed that of another Japanese hostage, adventurer Haruna Yukawa, who was also being held by the militants.

The Twitter account was verified as Goto's by his friend Toshi Maeda, who heads Tokyo-based venture Pacific Bridge, which created the mobile-video application Goto used for some of his reports from Syria.

His account has other musings from Goto, of course, including comments about French wine and complaints about his tired eyes, as well as his reporting.

But it was the message of tolerance that seemed to resonate with the thousands of Japanese Twitter users, expressing admiration for Goto's reporting about the suffering of children in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

Yuki Watabe, a 15-year-old high school student in Sapporo, northern Japan, said the tweet gave him heartache.

"He was such a wonderful person," Watabe said. "He had a strong sense of doing the right thing."

An English translation of that tweet, originally in Japanese, was also circulating on Twitter.

Goto's last tweet was in October, about the time he left for Syria, to rescue Yukawa, who disappeared last summer.

Maeda recalled how Goto believed in citizen journalism.

"He was like a brother to me," he said. "He was an inspiration. He was a friend and a colleague."

---

Yuri Kageyama on Twitter: twitter.com/yurikageyama


Source : Sapa-AP /ks
Date : 02 Feb 2015 23:09
 
MILITANTS' VIDEO SHOWS JORDANIAN PILOT BURNED ALIVE
By OMAR AKOUR and KARIN LAUB
Associated Press

Islamic State militants put to death a captured Jordanian fighter pilot by burning him alive in a cage, according to a video the group released Tuesday. The kingdom vowed a swift and lethal response to what it called a "barbaric" act.

The military confirmed the death of Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, who was captured by the extremists in December when his F-16 crashed while he was flying a mission as part of the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State.

Jordanian TV said the pilot was killed as long ago as Jan. 3. In the past week, the militants had not responded to demands by Jordanian authorities to deliver proof the airman was alive so a prisoner swap could be made.

The killing of the 26-year-old pilot appeared aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan - a close U.S. ally - to leave the coalition that has carried out months of airstrikes targeting Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq. But the extremists' brutality against a fellow Muslim could backfire and galvanize other Sunni Muslims in the region against them.

King Abdullah II, who has portrayed the campaign against the extremists as a battle over values, was in Washington for meetings with U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama. The monarch broadcast a speech on Jordanian TV on Tuesday evening, confirming the pilot's death "with sorrow and anger," and urging his countrymen to unite.

"It's the duty of all of us to stand united and show the real values of Jordanians in the face of these hardships," Abdullah said. The official Petra news agency said he would be cutting short his Washington trip.

Obama said the Islamic State group's video, if authentic, showed "the viciousness and barbarity of this organization."

"And it, I think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated," he told reporters during an event at the White House.

Obama later issued a statement offering condolences, saying the pilot's "dedication, courage, and service to his country and family represent universal human values that stand in opposition to the cowardice and depravity of ISIL, which has been so broadly rejected around the globe." The Islamic State group is known variously by the acronyms ISIL, ISIS and, in Arabic, Daesh.

Dozens of people chanting slogans against the Islamic State marched toward the royal palace to express their anger. Waving a Jordanian flag, they chanted, "Damn you, Daesh!" and "We will avenge, we will avenge our son's blood."

Jordanian officials said the country would response swiftly and decisively.

"Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians," said the spokesman of the armed forces, Mamdouh al-Ameri.

One option is to move forward with the execution of Sajida al-Rishawi, an al-Qaida prisoner whom Jordan had offered to trade for the pilot.

Al-Rishawi, 44, faces death by hanging for her role in the bombings of three Amman hotels in 2005. Al-Rishawi's suicide belt did not detonate at the time and she fled the scene, but was quickly arrested. After a televised confession, she recanted, but her appeal was turned down.

Al-Rishawi, an Iraqi national, has close family ties to the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida, a precursor of the Islamic State group.

The 20-minute video purportedly showing the pilot's killing was released on militant websites and bore the logo of the extremist group's al-Furqan media service. The clip featured the slick production and graphics used in previous Islamic State videos.

The pilot showed signs of having been beaten, including a black eye. Toward the end of the video, he was shown wearing an orange jumpsuit. He stood in an outdoor cage as a masked militant ignited a line of fuel leading to it.

The video, which could not immediately be confirmed independently by The Associated Press, threatened other purported Jordanian pilots by name.

It emerged three days after Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was purportedly beheaded by the militants. The fate of the journalist and the pilot had been linked by their captors.

Al-Kaseasbeh is from a tribal area in southern Jordan's Karak district. The tribes are considered a mainstay of support for the monarchy, but the pilot's capture has strained that relationship. Members of the pilot's family have repeatedly accused the government of botching efforts to win his release and have also criticized Jordan's participation in the anti-IS alliance.

The pilot's father, Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, was attending a tribal meeting in Amman when news of the video surfaced, and he was seen being led from the session. Other men were seen outside, overcome with emotion.

Late Tuesday, as word spread of his death, protesters marched in his home village of Ai and set a local government office on fire. Witnesses said the atmosphere was tense and that riot police were patrolling the streets.

In Amman, family members gathering at a tribal meeting place wept when receiving word of his death. Outside, hundreds of protesters took to the streets, chanting: "There is no god but God and the martyr is beloved by God."

Al-Kaseasbeh had fallen into the hands of the militants in December when his F-16 crashed near Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of the group's self-styled caliphate. He is the only coalition pilot to be captured to date.

The Islamic State group, which controls around a third of Syria and neighboring Iraq, has released a series of gruesome videos showing the killing of captives, including two American journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers. Tuesday's was the first to show a captive being burned alive.

David L. Phillips, a former State Department adviser on the Middle East, said he believes the killing of the pilot could backfire, antagonizing Sunnis against the extremists, including Sunni tribes in Iraq.

"They need to have a welcome from Sunni Arabs in Anbar Province (in Iraq) to maintain their operations," said Phillips, director of the Program on Peace-building and Human Rights at Columbia University.

He said the extremist group's recent military setbacks may have fueled the killings. "They need to compensate for that with increasingly gruesome killings of prisoners," he said.

Jordan has made clear that the hostage crisis will not prompt it to leave the coalition.

"We now all know in Jordan, beyond any doubt, how barbaric ISIS is," said Mohammed al-Momani, a government spokesman. "Whoever doubted the unity of Jordan will now be proved wrong. Whoever doubts Jordan's stern and lethal response will be proved wrong."

Experts are divided over whether Jordan faces a greater threat from extremists outside its borders or from those within. In recent months, there have been signs of greater support for the Islamic State group's ideas among Jordan's young and poor. Last year, the government intensified a crackdown on IS sympathizers and the al-Qaida branch in Syria.


Source : Sapa-AP /avb
Date : 04 Feb 2015 01:13
 
UN CONDEMNS PILOT'S KILLING AS 'HEINOUS AND COWARDLY ACT'

The U.N. Security Council is condemning the apparent burning to death of a detained Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State extremist group as a "heinous and cowardly act."

Council member Jordan posted the statement on its Facebook page Tuesday.

"This crime once again demonstrates the brutality of ISIL, which is responsible for thousands of crimes and abuses against people from all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities, and without regard to any basic value of humanity," the statement said.

In a separate comment, the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general said Ban Ki-moon condemned the killing of Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh and described the Islamic State group as "a terrorist organization with no regard for human life."

The council demanded the immediate release of hostages held by the Islamic State and other terrorist groups.


Source : Sapa-AP /avb
Date : 04 Feb 2015 00:51
 
POLICE ANNOUNCE CHARGES AGAINST ALLEGED IS RECRUITING CELL

Associated Press

Canadian police announced details about an Islamic State recruiting cell in Ottawa on Tuesday, saying they arrested one man and charged two men who are overseas - one of whom may be dead.

Police announced they arrested Awso Peshdary, 25, and charged him with participation in the activity of a terrorist group and with facilitating a terrorist group. Police also filed terrorism charges in absentia against Khadar Khalib, 23, and John Maguire, a 24-year-old convert to Islam. Both men had travelled to Syria.

Maguire, who has appeared in a IS video calling for attacks against Canadians, might have been killed recently according to reports.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan said Peshdary had wanted to travel with Maguire, stayed in contact with him and together tried to send other Canadians to Syria to join the terror group. Strachan said Khalib travelled to Syria in March, 2014. Police said the men posted photographs and wrote comments on social media that demonstrated they either supported or were active members of IS.

Strachan said despite reports, the RCMP has no evidence that Maguire is deceased. She said a tweet saying he's dead is not confirmation.

She said Peshdary was also the subject of a prior police terror investigation but said police only now had enough evidence to arrest him. The Associated Press first released details of the arrest and charges against the three men.

The arrest and charges are linked to three arrests last month in Ottawa. Last month, police announced Suliman Mohamed, 21, was charged with participating in a terrorist group. That arrest occurred just days after twin brothers linked to Mohamed, Ashton Carleton Larmond and Carlos Larmond, were charged with terrorism-related offences.

Carlos Larmond was arrested at Montreal's airport on charges of intending to travel overseas for terrorist purposes. A senior government official familiar with the matter said that the brothers were trying to get to Syria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

"It's a cell in Ottawa. Their focus seems to be on overseas activities, not on carrying out terrorist acts at home," the government official said.

Maguire appeared in a polished propaganda video in December urging Muslims to launch indiscriminate attacks against Canadians, similar to those carried out in October in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

In October, Canada was hit by two terror attacks by so-called "lone wolves" believed to have been inspired by the Islamic State group. In Ottawa, a gunman shot and killed a soldier at Canada's National War Memorial and then stormed Parliament before being gunned down.

The attack in Ottawa came two days after a man ran over two soldiers in a parking lot in Quebec, killing one and injuring the other before being shot to death by police. The man had been under surveillance by Canadian authorities, who feared he had jihadist ambitions and seized his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.

Canada is taking part in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria.


Source : Sapa-AP /avb
Date : 04 Feb 2015 00:09
 
JORDAN EXECUTES 2 PRISONERS AFTER IS KILLING OF PILOT
By OMAR AKOUR and KARIN LAUB
Associated Press

A Jordanian government spokesman says Jordan has executed two prisoners, including a would-be female suicide bomber from al-Qaida.

The executions at dawn Wednesday came just hours after Islamic State militants released a video that purportedly showed a captured Jordanian fighter pilot being burned alive in a cage.

Jordan vowed a swift and lethal response.

Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said that two prisoners, Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli, were executed early Wednesday.

Al-Rishawi has been on death row for her role in a triple hotel bombing in the Jordanian capital Amman in 2005 that killed dozens.


Source : Sapa-AP /avb
Date : 04 Feb 2015 05:42
 
LEADER OF EGYPT RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION ENRAGED BY IS KILLING

The head of Sunni Islam's most respected seat of learning has expressed his outrage over the purported burning to death by the Islamic State group of a captured Jordanian pilot, calling for the killing, crucifixion or chopping off the limbs of the militants.

Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, said the Islamic State group militants deserved such Quran-prescribed punishment because they were in effect fighting God and his Prophet Muhammad.

A statement from al-Tayeb released late Tuesday said that by burning Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh to death, militants violated Islam's prohibition on the mutilation of bodies, even at wartime.

Al-Kaseasbeh was captured in December when his F-16 crashed while he was flying a mission as part of the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State group.


Source : Sapa-AP /gq
Date : 04 Feb 2015 11:18
 
Garyvdh said:
LEADER OF EGYPT RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION ENRAGED BY IS KILLING

The head of Sunni Islam's most respected seat of learning has expressed his outrage over the purported burning to death by the Islamic State group of a captured Jordanian pilot, calling for the killing, crucifixion or chopping off the limbs of the militants.

Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, said the Islamic State group militants deserved such Quran-prescribed punishment because they were in effect fighting God and his Prophet Muhammad.

A statement from al-Tayeb released late Tuesday said that by burning Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh to death, militants violated Islam's prohibition on the mutilation of bodies, even at wartime.

Al-Kaseasbeh was captured in December when his F-16 crashed while he was flying a mission as part of the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State group.


Source : Sapa-AP /gq
Date : 04 Feb 2015 11:18
Click to expand...

At long last...

That took quite a while. But progress is being made.
 
OUTRAGE IN MIDEAST OVER IS KILLING OF JORDAN PILOT
By HAMZA HENDAWI

A video purportedly showing Islamic State militants burning a captive Jordanian pilot to death brought an outpouring of grief and rage across the Middle East on Wednesday, its brutality horrifying a region long accustomed to violence.

Political and religious leaders offered angry denunciations and called for blood, while at least one wept on air while talking about the killing of 26-year-old Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, whose F-16 crashed in Syria in December during a U.S.-led coalition raid on the extremist group.

The head of Sunni Islam's most respected seat of learning, Egypt's Al-Azhar, described the militants as enemies of God and the Prophet Muhammad, saying they deserved the Quran-prescribed punishment of death, crucifixion or the chopping off of their arms.

"Islam prohibits the taking of an innocent life," Ahmed al-Tayeb, Al-Azhar's grand sheik, said in a statement, adding that by burning the pilot to death, the militants violated Islam's prohibition on the mutilation of bodies, even during wartime.

Capital punishment is used across much of the mostly Muslim Middle East for crimes like murder and drug smuggling. Death by hanging is the preferred method, but beheadings are routinely carried out in Saudi Arabia. In Iran and Pakistan, stoning to death as punishment for adultery exists in the penal code but is rarely used.

Burning to death as legal punishment, however, is unheard of in the contemporary Middle East, and a prominent Saudi cleric, Sheik Salman al-Oudah, wrote Wednesday that it is prohibited by Islam, citing what he said was a saying by the Prophet Muhammad that reserves for God alone the right to punish by fire in the after-life.

Iyad Madani, the leader of the 57-nation, Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world's largest bloc of Muslim countries, condemned the killing.

It "utterly disregards the rights of prisoners Islam has decreed, as well as the human moral standards for war and treatment of prisoners," a statement from Madani said. It is sad to see "the depth of malaise" in parts of the Middle East, along with the "intellectual decay, the political fragmentation and the abuse of Islam, the great religion of mercy."

Condemnations quickly came from Gulf Arab nations, all of which are close U.S. allies.

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, condemned the killing and reaffirmed his nation's commitment to fighting terrorism and extremism.

"This heinous and obscene act represents a brutal escalation by the terrorist group, whose evil objectives have become apparent," he said.

The UAE is one of the most visible Arab members in the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group, which also includes Jordan. Its participation received intense publicity when the government there released photographs of a female UAE pilot who was taking part in the airstrikes.

Bahrain, a Gulf state that is home to the U.S. 5th Fleet, denounced the killing as "despicable," and Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, blasted the killing as "criminal" and "vicious."

Qatar's Foreign Ministry also condemned it, saying it was "a criminal act contravening the tolerant principles of the Islamic faith, human values and international laws and norms." The tiny but very rich Gulf nation hosts the regional command center coordinating coalition airstrikes.

Iran, which has aided both Iraq and Syria against the IS group, said the killing of the pilot was an "inhuman" act that violated the codes of Islam, according to a statement by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham.

Religious and political leaders have condemned past atrocities committed by the Islamic State group, including the beheading of foreign journalists and aid workers and the mass killing of captured Iraqi and Syrian soldiers.

But the killing of al-Kaseasbeh, who had been the subject of intense negotiations over a possible swap with an al-Qaida prisoner on death row in Jordan, seems to have hit much closer to home. The prisoner, an Iraqi woman convicted of involvement in a triple hotel bombing in Amman in 2005, was executed along with another al-Qaida prisoner at dawn on Wednesday.

The pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper led its coverage of the pilot's killing with a one-word headline: "Barbarity."

"How many Syrian al-Kaseasbehs are there?" asked an article in the left-leaning Lebanese daily Assafir. "How many ... are there, whose names we are ignorant of, slaughtered by the Islamic State and their brothers? How many Syrian al-Kaseasbehs have fallen in the past four years ... without news headlines on the television channels?"

Jordanian politician Mohammed al-Rousan wept on television as he described watching al-Kaseasbeh's death, saying even people attuned to violence could not bear to see a man burned alive.

But in an instant his grief turned to rage.

"Let's use the same methods as them!" he shouted during the interview with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV. "Let's kill their children! Let's kill their women!"

---

Associated Press writers Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Diaa Hadid in Beirut contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /gf
Date : 04 Feb 2015 14:52
 
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