Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country made every effort to win the release of the two Japanese hostages murdered by the Islamic State militant group.

In his first Japanese media interview since the crisis broke in January, the minister also said Wednesday in Ankara that Turkish intelligence authorities knew where the hostages were being detained and provided all the information to Japanese officials.

Cavusoglu said, however, he himself was not informed of the exact location.