Iraqi group claims holding 30 foreign hostages
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-10 23:12

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi appealed on Saturday for the release of three Japanese hostages in Iraq as protesters called for Tokyo to withdraw its troops to save the captives' lives. And an Iraqi group claimed that said they were holding 30 foreign hostages and threatened to decapitate them unless U.S. forces lifted their blockade of the Iraqi town of Falluja.

Protesters holding portraits of three Japanese hostages in Iraq demand the withdrawal of Japanese troops at a rally in Tokyo April 10, 2004. [Reuters]

"The three Japanese hostages are private individuals, and friends of Iraq...The people of Japan and I strongly demand for an immediate and safe release of the three hostages," he said.

The video message comes with less than 24 hours to go until a deadline set by the kidnappers, who have threatened to burn the hostages alive if Japanese troops do not pull out of Iraq.

A still from a video released by Japanese Foreign Ministry on April 10, 2004 shows Japan's Foreign Mnister Yoriko Kawaguchi appealling to the captors of three Japanese hostage in Iraq. [Reuters]

Kawaguchi's video, including an Arabic version, will be distributed to TV broadcasters around the world on Saturday.

Japan was stunned on Thursday when an unknown group released a video showing the hostages, blindfolded and with a gun to their heads.

On Saturday, a group calling itself the "Brigades of the Hero Martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin" said they were holding 30 foreign hostages and threatened to decapitate them unless U.S. forces lifted their blockade of the Iraqi town of Falluja.

"We have Japanese, Bulgarian, Israeli, American, Spanish and Korean hostages," a masked gunman said in an footage aired by Arab TV station, Al Arabiya. The footage showed no hostages.

A Japanese foreign ministry official said the ministry was checking the report and could not comment whether any Japanese, apart from the three hostages, had gone missing in Iraq.

There was no word on the whereabouts of the three hostages and a senior Japanese diplomat sent to Jordan declined to say whether he had contacted the kidnappers.

KOIZUMI'S TOUGHEST TEST

Some 1,000 protesters demanding troops come home gathered near Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's office hours before Vice President Dick Cheney arrived to start of a three-nation Asian tour.

"Our will is being tested in Iraq as we have seen in the heavy fighting this week," Cheney said en route to Tokyo. "It is absolutely essential that we finish the task at hand."

Koizumi, facing his toughest test, has vowed not to pull out the troops, but some analysts say mishandling the crisis could bring down his government.

Relatives of the hostages said they were worried by the apparent lack of progress and shortage of information.

Iraqi newspaper Al Raqeeb displays pictures April 10, 2004 of two men it said the German embassy in Baghdad had confirmed went missing on April 7 on a road near the volatile Sunni town of Falluja. The newspaper named the men as Ritrath Tobias (left), aged 25 and Thomas Haffenker, 38. [Reuters]

"I assume that there have been advances, but without the release of information we really don't know what's going on," said Takashi Imai, father of hostage Noriaki Imai, an 18-year-old who graduated from high school just last month.

NOT CAVING IN

The three are Imai, who had planned to look into the effects of depleted uranium weapons; female aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34; and freelance reporter Soichiro Koriyama, 32.

The public was sharply divided over the decision to deploy some 1,000 troops to Iraq and nearby countries in Japan's riskiest military operation since World War II.

Critics say the deployment violates Japan's pacifist constitution and resent what they see as U.S. pressure to make the decision. Supporters say it is time for Japan to take a bolder role in global security.

A survey by Kyodo news agency found that 45.2 percent of respondents opposed the decision to keep the troops in Iraq and 43.5 percent supported it.

The precise deadline set by the kidnappers was not clear, but a Japanese ruling coalition official put it at around 9:00 p.m. (0800 EDT) on Sunday.

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