Body may be that of Japanese hostage

A body found in Iraq resembles a Japanese civilian taken hostage by Islamic militants and threatened with death, but the government has not yet positively identified it, a Japanese government official said today.

Hatsuhisa Takashima, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the body was found halfway between the Iraqi cities of Balad and Tikrit, and was being flown to Doha, Qatar, for experts to determine if it was hostage Shosei Koda, 24. The body was found by the US military, he said.

“We’ve been told by the US military that several parts of the body, such as the height, weight and part of the head, resemble Koda,” said Takashima. He said the body’s head had a bald spot that resembled Koda’s. It was unclear whether the head had been severed from the body.

Islamic militants had threatened on Tuesday to behead Koda within 48 hours unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi firmly rejected that demand, saying he would not give in to terrorists.

Takashima said that officials had checked the Web site of the militant group holding Koda and had found no new information. The group earlier this week posted video of Koda speaking and militants threatening to kill him.

The Tikrit Joint Coordination Centre of the US military was notified early Friday by an anonymous tip that the body of an Asian male had been brought to the Tikrit Hospital. A patrol from the 1st Infantry Division arrived at the hospital and recovered the body, bringing it to a mortuary at a forward operating base in Tikrit, about 50 miles north of Balad.