Japan to Keep Troops in Iraq Despite Hostage-Taking
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Japan's prime minister insisted Wednesday  that Japan would not withdraw its troops from Iraq despite a  threat by a militant group to behead a Japanese hostage unless  Tokyo pulled them out.
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Japan approved an extension of its troop deployment in Iraq Thursday for up to a year, a decision opposed by most voters, who want to end the nation's riskiest military mission since World War II.
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Japan&#39;s prime minister, a staunch US ally in Iraq, refused on Wednesday to withdraw Japan&#39;s troops from the country, taking a tough stance in the face of demands by militants threatening to behead a Japanese hostage unless the soldiers leave.
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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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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi refused to withdraw Japanâs troops from Iraq, rejecting demands by Iraqi militants who have threatened to behead a Japanese civilian unless the soldiers left.
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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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Japan sought international help on Thursday for a Japanese man held hostage in Iraq, with less than 24 hours to go for a deadline set by his captors to behead him unless Tokyo withdraws its troops.
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Japan sought international help on  Thursday for a Japanese man held hostage in Iraq, with less  than 24 hours to go for a deadline set by his captors to behead  him unless Tokyo withdraws its troops.
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Japan will keep its troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said a day after insurgents fired explosives into a dining tent at a US Army base in the northern city of Mosul.
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TOKYO - Japan insisted yesterday it would not bow to the demands of militants in Iraq who threatened to behead a young Japanese unless Tokyo pulls its troops from the country within 48 hours.
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A group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to behead a Japanese hostage in Iraq if Tokyo did not withdraw its troops, but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan&#39;s contingent would stay put.
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By Michiyo Ishida, Channel NewsAsia&#39;s Japan bureau chief. Japanese troops are in Iraq mainly to help in the country&#39;s reconstruction but the mission is also seen as a signal that Tokyo wants a larger role in world affairs.
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JAPAN&#39;S troop deployment in Iraq beyond December is at risk as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi braces for a wave of public anger over the nightmare ending to the country&#39;s second Baghdad hostage crisis.
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A decapitated body found in Iraq was identified Sunday as a Japanese backpacker taken hostage by Islamic militants, but Tokyo insisted it would not cut short its dispatch of troops there and vowed to combat terrorism.
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TOKYO -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet agreed yesterday to extend the deployment of Japan's 600 noncombat troops in Iraq for up to a year despite widespread public opposition and condemnations from political opponents.
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TOKYO - The beheading of a Japanese hostage and the closely fought US presidential election have injected new caution into Tokyoâs deliberations on whether to extend its historic troop dispatch to Iraq.
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Japan won&#39;t yield to terrorism or withdraw its troops from Iraq, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, in response to reports an Iraqi group kidnapped a Japanese man.