Japan Faces Deadline To Free Islamic State Hostages

Image from an online video released by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, purports to show the group threatening to kill two Japanese hostages that the militants identify as Kenji Goto Jogo, left, and Haruna Yukawa, right. Yukawa went to Syria to train with fighters, and Goto is a freelance journalist respected for his reporting on refugees and children in war zones. (AP Photo) 

The deadline for paying ransom for two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State group was fast approaching early Friday with no signs of a breakthrough.

AP reports with time running short, the mother of one of the hostages, journalist Kenji Goto, appealed for an end to hatred and destruction. "My son is not an enemy of the Islamic State," Junko Ishido said in a tearful appearance in Tokyo. She said she was astonished to learn from her daughter-in-law that she had a newborn baby, and said the child needs his father. In very Japanese fashion, she apologized repeatedly for "all the trouble my son has caused."

The status of efforts to free the two men was unclear, with hours to go before the presumed deadline.

Ko Nakata, an expert on Islamic law, prepares to attend a press conference on two hostages held by the Islamic State group, at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. Nakata told reporters he was able to reach the Islamic State. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

The national broadcaster NHK reported that it had received a message from Islamic State "public relations" saying that a statement would be released sometime soon.

Lacking clout and diplomatic reach in the Middle East, Japan has been scrambling for a way to secure the release of the two men, one a journalist, the other an adventurer fascinated by war. Two Japanese who said they have contacts with a leader in the Islamic State group offered Thursday to try to negotiate, but it was unclear if the Japanese government was receptive to the idea.

The militants threatened in a video message to kill the hostages within 72 hours unless they receive US$200 million. Based on the video's release time, that deadline would expire sometime Friday.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that Japan was trying all possible channels to reach those holding the hostages — Goto, 47, and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, the founder of a private security company.