Insurgents threaten to kill Japanese hostages

Three Japanese have been taken hostage by Iraqi rebels who have threatened to kill them if Tokyo does not withdraw its troops from the country.

Video of the captured three – two men and a woman – were shown on the the Arab satellite television station Al-Jazeera.

Two were said be be journalists, the third an aid worker.

Seven South Koreans have also been captured by Iraqi rebels, a Foreign Ministry official said in Seoul today. An eighth captive was released.

Al Jazeera aired a video showing three Japanese, including one woman, dressed in civilian clothes.

A video message purportedly from the kidnappers showed three Japanese passports.

One of three Japanese passports belonged to a woman. The video also showed three ID cards, one of them a press card issued in Jordan.

A message from the insurgents, who called themselves The Mujahadeen Brigades, threatened to kill the three unless Japanese forces withdraw from the country in three days.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry set up an emergency operations room but a spokesman said he had no information.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been one of the strongest backers of the US led invasion of Iraq, a stance that has raised concern Japanese troops could be targeted by insurgents in that country.

Japan has sent several hundred ground troops to Iraq on a non-combat mission to help rebuild the country.

The South Koreans were believed to be Christian ministers who left for Iraq on April 5. They were detained about 155 miles west of Baghdad, the Foreign Ministry said.

“Three of your sons have fallen in our hands,” the Al-Jazeera announcer said, quoting a statement he said came with the video tape of the captured Japanese.

“We offer you two choices: either pull out your forces, or we will burn them alive. We give you three days starting the day this tape is broadcast.”

The three were first shown blindfolded, then without the blindfolds. They were sitting on a floor, apparently indoors, and did not appear hurt or agitated.

Among the documents belonging to the three were Jordanian-issued press credentials.

Ahmed al-Shaikh, editor in chief of Al-Jazeera, they did not know the identity of the person who gave the station the video tape.

“We received the tape today. Someone dropped it off in our offices in Baghdad,” al-Shaikh said. He refused to say anything further about how the tape was received.

The Japanese were blindfolded and surrounded by gunmen who identified themselves as being members of the Mujahedeen Squadrons, Al-Jazeera said.

The captives were identified as Noriaki Imai, Soichiro Koriyama and Nahoko Takato.

Imai, an aid worker, had left for Iraq on April 1, NHK reported.