ISIS posted a "countdown clock" warning it would kill two Japanese hostages if a ransom were not paid in time, and the deadline passed on Friday afternoon in Asia with no word of the hostages' fate.
Before the deadline passed, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would "use every diplomatic route" to save the hostages, but he said Japan would not pay a ransom fee to release them. ISIS had demanded $200 million for the men's release.
"Such an act of blackmailing through holding the innocent lives as hostage is utterly impermissible, and we feel strong indignation," Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement after ISIS' video was released. "We strongly urge the group not to harm the two Japanese nationals and to release them immediately."
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