Japan will not withdraw from Iraq over kidnap

The apparent kidnapping of a Japanese man by a militant group in Iraq will not affect Tokyo’s troop deployment there, Japan’s defence chief said today as officials vowed to make every effort to win his release.

The Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed on its website it had kidnapped Akihiko Saito, 44, after ambushing a group of five foreign contractors. It said Saito was “seriously injured” in the fighting and that the others had died.