Associated Press

Associated Press

TOKYO

The wife of slain Japanese hostage Kenji Goto said Monday she is devastated but proud of her husband, who was beheaded by Islamic State extremists.

In a statement issued through the British-based journalist group Rory Peck Trust, Rinko Jogo requested privacy for her family as they deal with their loss, and thanked those who had supported them.

She said, “I remain extremely proud of my husband, who reported the plight of people in conflict areas like Iraq, Somalia and Syria.”

Goto left for Syria in late October just a few weeks after the birth of the couple’s youngest daughter. Soon after, he was captured by the militants.

The failure to save Goto raised fears for the life of a Jordanian fighter pilot also held by the militant group that controls about a third of both Syria and Iraq.

Unlike some earlier messages delivered in the crisis, the video that circulated online late Saturday purporting to show a militant beheading Goto did not mention the pilot.

Jordan renewed an offer Sunday to swap an al-Qaida prisoner for the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who was seized after his F-16 crashed near the Islamic State group’s de facto capital, Raqqa, Syria, in December.

Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani told The Associated Press that “we are still ready to hand over” Sajida al-Rishawi, who faces death by hanging for her role in triple hotel bombings in Jordan in 2005.