ISIS Beheads Japanese Hostage Kenji Goto in New Video
After a proposed prisoner swap failed to materialize this week, ISIS released a gruesome video on Saturday purporting to show the beheading of captured Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
The new video closely resembles earlier ISIS execution videos, showing a hooded figure brandishing a knife and threatening foreign governments in British-accented English.
"This knife will not only slaughter Kenji but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found," says the masked killer. "Let the nightmare for Japan begin."
On Tuesday, ISIS offered to trade Goto and captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh for attempted suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi, imprisoned in Jordan for nearly a decade. Jordan agreed to the exchange, but negotiations stalled after ISIS failed provide proof al-Kasasbeh was still alive.
A spokesperson for the Japanese government condemned the video Saturday evening, saying, "We cannot suppress the extreme anger that such an immoral and despicable terrorist act was repeated again."