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.