Japan PM Shinzo Abe vows to work with other nations to bring IS to justice

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday condemned the apparent killing of journalist Kenji Goto by Islamic State, vowing to work with other nations to bring those responsible to justice.

"I feel strong indignation at this inhumane and contemptible act of terrorism," a grim-faced Abe said in brief remarks to reporters. "I will never forgive these terrorists."

"Japan will work with the international community to bring those responsible for this crime to justice," he said, reiterating that Japan would not give in to terrorism. 

Islamic State militants said on Saturday they had killed Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, after the apparent failure of sustained international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap.

The hardline Islamist group, an offshoot of al Qaeda which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq, released a video which purported to show the beheaded body of journalist Goto and threatened further attacks on Japanese targets.

Islamic State has said Goto was held along with a Jordanian pilot. Efforts to win their release had focused on the possible release of an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber jailed in Jordan 10 years ago. The video did not mention the pilot.

Japan condemned the militants and said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet would meet in response to the video, which showed a hooded man standing over Goto with a knife to his throat, followed by footage of a head put on the back of a human body.

The release of the video came exactly a week after footage purportedly showing the beheaded body of another Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa.

"I cannot help feeling strong indignation that an inhuman and despicable act of terrorism like this has been committed again," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, adding the video appeared to show Goto. "We resolutely condemn this."

A grim-faced Abe told reporters Japan would not give in to terrorism and said his country would work with international partners to bring those responsible for Goto's apparent killing to justice.

A White House spokeswoman said the United States was working to confirm the authenticity of the latest video and "strongly condemns" the militant group's actions.

The Islamic State threats to kill their Japanese hostages came after Abe announced $200 million in non-military aid for countries contending with Islamic State. His government has rejected any suggestion it acted rashly and stressed the assistance was humanitarian.

Addressing Abe, the militant in the video said: "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."

The militant had the same British accent as the man featured in previous Islamic State videos showing beheadings. Goto wore an orange jumpsuit like Islamic State captives in past footage.

                          

The landscape in the video showed a hill and land covered in scrub, and appeared different to the desert setting of previous videos.
Islamic State, which has seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria, has beheaded a number of Western journalists and aid workers, saying they were paying the price for their governments' fight against the group.
It has also killed many local people, through beheadings, stonings and shootings, accusing them of violating their hardline interpretation of Islamic law.
In November the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Islamic State had killed 1,432 Syrians off the battlefield since the end of June when it declared a caliphate in the territory under its control.
There was no mention in the one-minute video of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh who was seized by Islamic State after his jet crashed in northeast Syria in December during a bombing mission against the militants.
An audio message purportedly from Goto earlier this week said Kasaesbeh would be killed if Jordan did not free Iraqi Sajida al-Rishawi, in jail for her role in a 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed 60 people in the Jordanian capital Amman.
Abe's government had put high priority on seeking the release of Goto, a veteran war correspondent captured by the militants in late October when he went to Syria seeking Yukawa's release.
Japan PM Abe condemns Islamic State, vows justice for Goto
"I feel strong indignation at this inhumane and contemptible act of terrorism," a grim-faced Abe said in brief remarks to reporters. "I will never forgive these terrorists."
"Japan will work with the international community to bring those responsible for this crime to justice," he said, reiterating that Japan would not give in to terrorism.
'Islamic State video of Goto killing appears genuine'
The video purporting to show the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto by Islamic State militants appears genuine, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said on Sunday.
Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department reported to a meeting of ministers from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government that the video "has a high degree of credibility," Nakatani told reporters.

Engineer going to join ISIS held at Hyderabad airport

                                    

An engineer from Hyderabad was arrested on his way to Syria to join the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Telangana police said on Friday.

Security agencies had detained the man in his twenties -- Salman Mouinuddin, who lived with his parents in Asif Nagar area -- at the Hyderabad airport on Thursday when he was going to fly to Dubai for his onward journey to Syria via Turkey.

According to police sources, Moinuddin has an MS degree from Houston and he is married. He was going to join the ISIS along with his British girlfriend Nicky Joseph, who had converted to Islam and is presently known as Ayesha.

The police claimed that Mouinuddin has admitted that he was going to join the ISIS along with his girlfriend.

The police were expected to produce him before a magistrate later ion the day and seek his remand for interrogation.

The Maharashtra police had in September 2014 arrested three youths from Kalyan on suspicion of joining the ISIS on their return from Syria.

Indians in the line of fire

The killing of two Indian security guards by a Taliban suicide bomber during a recent attack on the Kabul airport, coupled with the successful evacuation from the line of fire of 40 nurses from Kerala, who were employed at a hospital in Tikrit in Iraq, highlights the growing entrapment of Indians in war zones abroad. Anxiety continues to mount regarding the fate of 39 young men from Punjab who were taken captive near Mosul, following clashes between Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadis and Iraqi security forces. In both cases Indians have become inadvertent victims of major geopolitical conflicts that are being fought under the cover of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) coupled with the doctrine of “regime change”. In the case of Afghanistan, the guards, both from Kerala, were employed by the private security firm DynCorp International, highlighting how Indians had been channelled into the controversial policy adopted by the United States to outsource military duties to “security contractors,” not all of whom are above board. The security firm Blackwater Security Consulting, now called Constellis Holdings, was caught in a firestorm after its employees shot and killed 17 civilians in Iraq. The situation may only turn grimmer, as the U.S. speeds up its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The killings in Kabul of Ponnappan V. Kuttappan and Parambat Ravindran, also puts the spotlight on the underlying causes that push Indians into conflict zones. Horrific tales of innocent workers being duped by a nexus of unscrupulous agents and traffickers into high-risk combat areas are common. Yet, many migrate with foreknowledge of the dangers that might lie ahead. Relatively high salaries continue to be an attraction for people from the developing world, for a security guard in a U.S.-based security firm in Afghanistan can earn a monthly income equal to Rs. 1 lakh, far more than salaries that obtain at home. In Tikrit, most of the nurses seemed unwilling to return, till such time that the dangers to their lives became overwhelming. Despite the odds, the government is obliged to prevent the migration at least of those who are unknowingly transported into war zones, where they are virtually held in bondage because the fighting surrounding them restricts their movement. Indian embassies and consulates, in cooperation with the immigration authorities of host countries, must build a data bank on the entry and exit of Indian nationals, while also maintaining an early-warning oversight on the type of contracts that these individuals may enter into. In the long run, only sound employment and better working conditions at home can stem the flow of Indians into hazardous zones of conflict in faraway lands.