Japan mourns hostage amid spiralling Iraq violence
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Japan has denounced the beheading of a Japanese hostage in Iraq after a day that saw the heaviest US casualties for six months and the bloodiest attack on a media organisation since the start of the war.
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TOKYO - There are conflicting reports about whether a Japanese man taken hostage in Iraq last week has been killed by his captors.
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Tokyo: Japan said on Friday it had not given up hope for a Japanese hostage in Iraq after a report he may have been killed, as the 24-year-old&#39;s mother pleaded to Islamic militants to spare him.
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A group threatened to execute a Japanese hostage in Iraq unless Japan pulls out its forces, but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Wednesday that the Japanese troops would remain in the country.
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A body resembling a Japanese hostage has  been found in Iraq and is being shipped to Qatar for  identification, Japanese officials said on Saturday, after  Tokyo refused a demand by his captors to pull out its troops.
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Efforts to rescue a Japanese hostage in Iraq continued Wednesday with a call from Japan&#39;s foreign minister on the abductors to free the young man while the British hostage in
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Japan has made last-ditch efforts to secure the release of a Japanese hostage facing execution in Iraq. A Japanese government official says efforts are still being made to free Shosei Koda, 24, but there have been no reports of any progress.
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Japan has said it will keep its troops in Iraq, despite the beheading of a Japanese hostage by Islamic militants. Officials had earlier confirmed that a body found in Baghdad yesterday was that of Shosei Koda
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says Japan won&#39;t yield to terrorism by withdrawing its troops from Iraq, in response to reports an Iraqi group kidnapped a Japanese
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Shocked by the murder of a kidnapped Japanese hostage in Iraq, the Japanese government Sunday denounced the slaying but vowed to keep its forces there.
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A body resembling a Japanese hostage has  been found in Iraq and is being shipped to Qatar for  identification, Japanese officials said on Saturday.
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TOKYO Japanese leaders are struggling to make contact with Islamic militants in Iraq holding a Japanese traveler hostage. The Japanese government says it has few details on the kidnapping of the 24-year-old tourist.
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Japan&#39;s prime minister today refused to bend to demands by militants who have taken a Japanese civilian hostage in Iraq and threatened to behead him unless Tokyo withdraws its soldiers.
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A body found in Iraq cannot be confirmed as that of a young Japanese man taken hostage and the corpse has been sent to Qatar for identification, Japan's Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa said.
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Japan was checking a media report on  Friday that an Asian body had been found in Iraq after a  deadline expired for the beheading of a Japanese youth whose  captors had demanded that Tokyo withdraw its troops.
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Japan's government said it was trying to confirm news reports that the Islamic militant group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi had taken a Japanese citizen hostage in Iraq and threatened to behead him.
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The family of a Japanese man being held hostage in Iraq begged for his life on Friday after the expiry of a deadline set by his captors, who have threatened to behead him unless Japan withdrew its troops.