ISIS released a message last night purportedly extending the deadline for Jordan's release of an Iraqi would-be hotel bomber linked to al-Qaeda. The English-language recording, read by a voice claiming to be Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, says Jordan must present Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman convicted of involvement in deadly Amman hotel bombings in 2005, at the Turkish border by sunset today in exchange for Goto's life or captured Jordanian air force pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh would be killed. A spokesman says Jordan's government has demanded proof the pilot is alive before moving ahead with any possible swap to bring about his release.
Mohammed al-Momani said this afternoon that al-Rishawi is still in Jordan, raising doubts that the sunset deadline, which will pass momentarily, can be met. In Japan, a government spokesman says the Japanese government was in close communication with the Jordanian government, which it "deeply trusts." He says Japan is doing its utmost to free Goto, working with nations in the region, including Turkey, Jordan, and Israel. It wasn't clear what Goto's fate would be if the woman wasn't returned. Jordanian King Abdullah II faces growing domestic pressure to bring the pilot home, and analysts say the capture has hardened popular opposition among Jordanians to anti-ISIS airstrikes. (More ISIS stories.)
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