Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A video purporting to have been released by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claims the group has killed one of two Japanese hostages after a deadline for Japan to pay the group a $200m ransom passed on Friday.

In footage posted online, the video reportedly shows the killing Haruna Yukawa, a private military contractor who was kidnapped in Syria last August.

A Japanese government spokesman said the apparent killing of Yukawa was "outrageous" and "unacceptable", the Reuters news agency reported.

The group has now demanded that one of its members is released from custody in Jordan as a swap for the release of Kenji Goto, a freelance Japanese journalist who was was abducted while reporting on Syria's civil war last year.

ISIL has apparently dropped its previous demand for a $200m ransom.

The Japanese government is trying to verify the authenticity of the video. The government spokesman demanded that ISIL immediately release Goto, Reuters reported.

*Agencies