Efforts to free Islamic State hostage deadlocked, says Japan

The fate of Japanese war reporter Kenji Goto has been linked to that of another hostage, Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath Kaseasbeh, whom the extremists also have threatened to kill.

In this January 28, 2015 photo, a passerby is silhouetted against a large TV screen broadcasting a news programme in Tokyo reporting on a video posted on January 27 by militants on YouTube that purports to show a still photo of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto holding what appears to be a photo of Jordanian pilot 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh.

A top Japanese diplomat says efforts to free a captive journalist from the militant Islamic State group have reached a “state of deadlock”.

The fate of veteran war reporter Kenji Goto has been linked to that of another hostage, Jordanian fighter pilot Lt. Muath Kaseasbeh, whom the extremists also have threatened to kill.

Jordan and Japan are reportedly conducting indirect negotiations with the militants who control a third of both Iraq and Syria.

A purported threat by the militants to kill the pilot at sunset on Thursday unless an al-Qaeda prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi was released by Jordan has passed without word on the fate of the two hostages.

Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Yasuhide Nakayama, told journalists in Amman late Friday that “the situation is in a state of deadlock”.