Japan Seeks Iraq Hostage Release as Deadline Nears
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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 grew more worried on Friday about  the fate of a Japanese hostage in Iraq as time passed after the  expiry of deadline set by his captors to behead him unless  Tokyo withdrew its troops.
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Japan was checking a media report on  Friday that an Asian body had been found in Iraq after the  expiry of a deadline set for the beheading of a Japanese youth  whose captors had demanded that Tokyo withdraw 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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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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Diplomatic efforts mount as a deadline nears for two French journalists held hostage in Iraq.
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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 group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab  al-Zarqawi said it would behead a member of Japan's forces it  had abducted in Iraq if the Japanese government did not  withdraw its forces from the country within 48 hours.
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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 says it is checking reports that the body of an Asian man has been found in northern Iraq, following expiration of an execution deadline for a Japanese national set by militants demanding the withdrawal of all Japanese troops in Iraq.
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A group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it would behead a member of Japan&#39;s forces it had captured in Iraq if the Japanese government did not withdraw its forces from the country within 48 hours.
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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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DUBAI : The Islamic militant group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi said in a video shown on the Internet it had taken a Japanese citizen hostage in Iraq and threatened to execute him if Tokyo does not withdraw its troops from Iraq in 48 hours.
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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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Militants holding three U.N. workers  hostage in Afghanistan have extended a deadline for their  demands to be met because of the time taken for negotiators to  arrive for talks, a spokesman for the kidnappers said on  Saturday.
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An Iraqi group purportedly holding two  French journalists hostage demanded a $5 million ransom on  Monday and set a 48-hour deadline for their demands to be met.
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Japan scrambled Wednesday to win the release a 24-year old Japanese man taken hostage by Islamic militants in Iraq, dispatching high level diplomats to the middle east and