Japan to Keep Troops in Iraq Despite Hostage Case
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi  said Wednesday he would not withdraw troops from Iraq despite a  threat by a militant group to behead a Japanese hostage within  48 hours unless Tokyo pulled its forces out.
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Japan&#39;s junior ruling coalition partner backed extending the country&#39;s troop dispatch to Iraq for another year after authorization for the current mission expires Dec. 14.
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Japanâs defence chief said today that Japanese troops should remain in Iraq until the country is properly rehabilitated, possibly until late 2005.
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Japan will keep its troops in Iraq for another year, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Thursday, even though most voters want to end what is the nation&#39;s riskiest military mission since World War II.
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Video posted Tuesday on a militant Islamic Web site showed what it claimed was a Japanese captive kidnapped by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group and threatened to behead him within 48 hours unless Japan pulls its troops from Iraq. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejected the demand.
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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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Faced with a new hostage-taking in Iraq, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appears determined not to break the coalition a week before the US election in which he openly supports George W. Bush, analysts said.
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TOKYO - The Japanese government was trying to confirm Friday if a body believed to be of an Asian person reportedly found in northern Iraq is that of a Japanese traveler held hostage in Iraq after the kidnappers&#39; 48-hour deadline for beheading him
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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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The White House said Wednesday that it would expect Japan to keep supporting US-led military operations in Afghanistan despite the resignation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
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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 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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Japan's prime minister rejects Iraqi militants' demands for a troop pullout after a Japanese man is seized.
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Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group threatened to behead a Japanese hostage it said worked with Japan's forces in Iraq if Tokyo did not withdraw its troops from the country within 48 hours.
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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 pulled out its troops.
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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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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said Japan will not pull its troops out of Iraq despite threats by a group led by an al Qaeda ally to behead a Japanese hostage, Japanese media reported on Wednesday.