Filmed deaths

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed in a video that it has beheaded a second Japanese hostage, drawing international condemnation and outrage from a visibly upset Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who denounced it as a "heinous and despicable" act.
 

A Japanese journalist who was reporting on a possible prisoner swap involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has died in Akçakale along Turkey's border with Syria following a car accident.

Families of a Japanese journalist and Jordanian military pilot remained in limbo Jan. 30, a day after the latest purported deadline for a possible prisoner swap passed with no further word from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holding them captive.
     

An audio message purportedly from a Japanese journalist being held by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants said a Jordanian air force pilot also captured by the group would be killed unless an Iraqi female prisoner in Jordan was released on the Turkish border by sunset on Jan. 29.

ISIL militants say they will execute a Jordanian pilot "immediately" if Amman does not hand over a female suicide bomber by sunset Jan 29, as Japan waits in anguish for news of a journalist the extremists are also holding.

Jordan's government spokesperson said on Jan. 28 his country was willing to hand over an Iraqi would-be-suicide bomber if a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was released.
   

An angry Japanese prime minister on Jan. 28 slammed as "utterly despicable" an Islamist militant threat to kill both a Japanese hostage and a Jordanian pilot unless Amman releases a jihadi bomber.
      

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) threatened Jan. 27 to kill a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian pilot within 24 hours unless Amman frees a jailed female militant.
      
A video released on jihadist websites shows a picture of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto holding a photograph of captured Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh.
      

Islamic State militants appear to have beheaded one of their two Japanese hostages and are demanding the release of a convicted terrorist in Jordan in exchange for the other.

The deadline set by Islamist militants threatening to kill two Japanese men unless they were given $200 million passed Jan. 23, after one captive's mother made a desperate plea to save her son's life.