Update | Beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto condemned

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday described as "heinous and despicable" the apparent beheading of a second Japanese hostage by Islamic State (IS), as global leaders denounced the jihadis.

IS claimed in a video released online on Saturday that it had killed 47-year-old Kenji Goto - the second purported beheading of a Japanese hostage in a week - but made no mention of a captured Jordanian pilot it had also threatened to kill.

Jordan "will do everything it can" to save the pilot's life and secure his release, government spokesman Mohammed al-Momeni told the official Petra news agency in Amman.

In the video, Goto, a respected war correspondent, is seen in an orange outfit kneeling next to a standing masked man dressed head-to-toe in black.

The man, who speaks with a British accent, appears to be the same IS militant who had featured in previous execution videos. He directly addresses Abe, saying the killing was the result of "reckless" decisions by the Japanese government - a possible reference to aid money that Tokyo gave to help refugees fleeing IS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq - and would mark the beginning of a "nightmare for Japan".