|
Japan confirms hostage in Iraq
A Japanese employee of a foreign security firm was kidnapped in Iraq, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura was quoted as saying by Kyodo News after an Al-Qaeda-linked group claimed to have a Japanese hostage. Kyodo News said a Cypriot security firm had also confirmed the man was on its payroll. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, visiting Moscow for World War II anniversary ceremonies, has been informed of the incident, public broadcaster NHK said. An Al-Qaeda-linked militant group said it had seized a Japanese hostage during a "fierce battle" in western Iraq, in a statement posted on an Islamist website Monday. Identity card photographs accompanying the statement from the Army of Ansar al-Sunna gave the hostage's name as Akihiko Saito, 44. Japanese forces are on a historic mission to Iraq as it is the first time since World War II that Tokyo has deployed the military to a country where there is active fighting. The Japanese forces have suffered no casualties, although in October an Al-Qaeda-linked group kidnapped and beheaded a 24-year-old Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda. Posted by: phil_b 2005-05-09 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=118752 |