JAPAN and other nations condemned with outrage and horror yesterday the beheading purportedly by the Islamic State group of Kenji Goto, a journalist who sought through his coverage of Syria to convey the plight of refugees, children and other victims of war.

    The failure to save Goto raised fears for the life of a Jordanian fighter pilot also held hostage by the extremists.

    Unlike earlier messages, an online video purporting to show an Islamic State group militant beheading Goto, circulated via social media late Saturday by militant sympathizers, did not mention the pilot.

    Goto’s slaying shocked this country, which up to 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. We will never forgive terrorists.”

    “When I think of the grief of his family, I am left speechless,” he said. “The government has been doing its utmost in responding to win his release, and we are filled with deep regret.”

    In light of threats from the Islamic State group, the government ordered heightened security at airports and at Japanese facilities overseas, such as embassies and schools, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said.

    Goto, 47, was a freelance journalist and father who braved hardship and peril to convey the suffering caused by conflict and poverty.

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

    Abe vowed not to give in to terrorism and said Japan will continue to provide humanitarian aid to countries fighting the Islamic State extremists.

    The Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said that the police agency had deemed the video of Goto’s killing “highly likely to be authentic.”

    Goto traveled to Syria in late October to try to save another hostage, Haruna Yukawa, who was captured by the Islamic State group in August and shown as purportedly killed in an earlier video.

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

    (SD-Agencies)