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Abbas condemns kidnapping of 2 Japanese by IS

Xinhua, January 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday condemned the kidnapping of two Japanese nationals in Syria by the Islamic State (IS) militants.

The condemnation was made after he met in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He told a joint news conference that the Palestinians denounce and condemn the kidnapping.

"Such awful actions contradict with our values, morals and traditions and human principles," Abbas told reporters, who expressed the deep Palestinian solidarity with Japan.

Meanwhile, Abe told reporters that the kidnapping of the two Japanese is "unacceptable," saying that he had asked the Palestinian side to offer help, and hoped the hostages will be released "as soon as possible."

The Japanese prime minister also said he would send a deputy foreign minister, Yashuide Nakayama, to Jordan in order to try to figure out a solution for the hostages crisis.

Abe arrived in Israel on Sunday with a delegation of officials and business leaders in order to boost the economic cooperation with Israel.

Earlier on Tuesday, the IS group demanded in a video footage 200 million U.S. dollars in ransom in order to release the two Japanese captives. Endit