Japan is scrambling to free a hostage after a new online video message apparently from Islamic State militants said journalist Kenji Goto has less than 24 hours to live unless Jordan frees a jailed Iraqi woman.

The author of the video also revealed that Jordanian pilot, Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, 26, is an Islamic State captive. Posted on a website on January 27, the message repeated a demand to release Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi national on death row in Jordan for taking part in a 2005 attack that left 60 people dead.

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The video message said the Jordanian pilot and the Japanese journalist would be killed unless Jordan lets al-Rishawi go within 24 hours. The hostage-taker said the video was the group's final message and warned any delays in meeting its demand will lead to the deaths of both hostages.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhide Suga, without commenting on the video's authenticity, said Tokyo is relying on Jordanian officials to work on freeing Goto.

The new footage is consistent with a message uploaded over the weekend, though neither clips bore no brand of al-Furqan, the Islamic State group's media outlet. The weekend message showed Goto holding the apparent body of another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.

The authenticity of the videos could not be independently verified but other websites linked to Islamic State militants posted links to the messages.

On Monday, a Japanese diplomat in Jordan, Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama, said Japan and Jordan were working together to see the day when the pilot and Goto can walk home with a "smile" on their faces.

Extremists held the pilot after his F-16 fighter jet was shot down in December near Raqqa, the Islamic State group's unofficial capital. The Jordanian is the first foreign air force pilot to get captured since a multinational coalition started an aerial offensive against Islamic State militants in September.

Japanese freelance journalist Goto was captured in Syria in October, apparently while attempting to save Yukawa, 42, who fell to militants in summer last year.

TagsISIS, Jordan, hostages