Jordan ready to free suicide bomber if pilot released

Jordan Wednesday said it is ready to release a female suicide bomber if the Jordanian pilot captured by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group is freed.

In a statement on Jordan TV, the country's minister of state for media affairs said Jordan was ready to release Sajida Rishawi if the Jordanian pilot was set free, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Tuesday, Jordanian Armed Forces said they were working on verifying the authenticity of a video released by the IS earlier in the day.

According to the unverified video, Japanese hostage Kenji Goto said the IS would only release him if Rishawi was set free by Jordan within 24 hours, otherwise the IS would execute him and Jordanian pilot Muath Kasasbeh who was captured by the IS after his plane crashed in Syria last month.

Rishawi is an Iraqi woman who has close ties with Abu Musab Zarqawi, the former leader of an Al Qaeda cell in Iraq.

The army said it was following up what was mentioned in the video, which it clarified did not refer to their Jordanian pilot.

In the video posted online Tuesday afternoon, freelance journalist Goto was featured with a message to the Japanese government.

Goto asked the Japanese government to pressure Jordan to release Sajida Rishawi, a suicide bomber who in 2005 failed to detonate the explosive belt she was wearing and was later arrested and sentenced to death.