President Barack Obama assured the American public that the United States and its allies are doing everything they can to rescue an American woman that is currently being held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Obama did not name the woman out of fears for her security.
In an interview with NBC, Obama revealed that the US and its allies are "deploying all available tools to identify" the unnamed woman and where she is being held in Islamic State territory.
Her captivity is "heartbreaking," the Democrat President said.
In addition, Obama told NBC that "the terrible stuff that's happening" within the territories held by the Islamic State are the reason why the United States and her allies must step up its efforts in combating the Islamic State threat.
The woman is a 26-year-old aid group volunteer who was kidnapped by the Islamic State while working in Syria.
Obama's statements come in the wake of the Islamic State's beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Goto, who had previous experience documenting civilian life in war zones, had gone to Japan in October hoping to convince the Islamic State to release his compatriot Haruna Yukawa. However, the Islamic State proceeded to release a video of Mr. Haruna being beheaded last week. Less than a week later, the ISIS also released another video of beheading, this time of Mr. Goto.
The video provoked reactions of anger and outrage from the Japanese citizens. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the beheading and called it a "heinous act" against a Japanese citizen.
Abe, whose country's constitution currently imposes limits on actions that are military in nature, vowed that Japan "would not give in to terrorism" and that his country will support other nations who are currently fighting the Islamic State.
