Japan facing hostage threat

TOKYO - A group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is threatening to behead a Japanese hostage in Iraq unless Japan withdraws its troops, but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says that Japan's contingent will stay.

Japan's top Government spokesman said the hostage had been tentatively identified as Shosei Koda, 24, a resident of Fukuoka in southern Japan who was in New Zealand on a working holiday in July.

The hostage crisis poses a challenge to Koizumi, who decided to send Japanese troops to Iraq despite strong public opposition.

"We cannot tolerate terrorism and we will not give in to terrorism," Koizumi said.

"We will not withdraw the Self-Defence Force (SDF)," he said, referring to the Japanese military.

Al Qaeda Organisation of Holy War in Iraq gave the Japanese Government 48 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq, "or this infidel will meet the same fate as Berg ... and the other infidels," the group said, in a reference to American Nick Berg, who was beheaded in May.

The video, which was posted on a website often used by militants, showed the anxious Koda, with long hair and a thin beard, seated in front of three masked men and a black banner bearing the group's name.

"They are asking why the Japanese Government ... sent its troops to Iraq," said Koda, who was wearing a white shirt.

"They want the Japanese Government and Prime Minister Koizumi to withdraw Japanese troops from Iraq or they will cut my head [off]," he said, speaking in English and then in Japanese.

Japanese television showed Koda saying in Japanese: "I am sorry. I want to go back again to Japan."

As one militant read out a statement, another grabbed Koda by the hair and pulled his head up to face the camera.

Koda's family told public broadcaster NHK that Koda had gone abroad in January and started a working holiday in New Zealand in July. They had not been told of his trip to Iraq.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq