Captors urged to set Japanese free
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Japan&#39;s Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura has urged the captors of Shosei Koda in Iraq to set him free. In an interview to Aljazeera&#39;s correspondent in Tokyo on Wednesday, he said, &quot;Koda is a civilian who
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Japan sought international and Iraqi help  for a Japanese man held hostage in Iraq on Thursday, less than  24 hours before a deadline set by his captors to behead him  unless Japan withdraws its troops.
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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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Radical militants on Tuesday kidnapped one man who they claimed to be Japanese and demanded the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Iraq.
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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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The anxious family of British hostage Kenneth Bigley on Thursday made a further appeal to the captors to free him as soon as possible.
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A group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab  al-Zarqawi threatened to behead a Japanese hostage in Iraq  unless Japan withdrew its troops, but Prime Minister Junichiro  Koizumi said on Wednesday that Japan's contingent would stay.
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The aid charity Care International has appealed to the captors of its Iraq director Margaret Hassan to release her.
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A video on a militant Islamic Web site Tuesday showed a captive it said was a Japanese man kidnapped by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group and threatened to behead him within 48 hours unless Japan pulls its troops from Iraq.
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The beheading of a Japanese hostage in Iraq renewed pressure on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to withdraw his country&#39;s troops, as the opposition blamed his pro-US policy for the slaying.
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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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An armed group in Iraq has taken a Japanese traveler hostage and threatened to kill him unless Tokyo withdraws its Self-Defense Forces troops from the country within 48 hours, government officials said in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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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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CAIRO -- An organization linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist group claimed Tuesday they have kidnapped a Japanese national and threatened to kill him unless Japan withdraws its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops from Iraq within 48 hours.
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Japanese officials tried Thursday to contact the Iraqi militants holding a Japanese hostage, as the 48-hour deadline for his threatened execution approached.
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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 Japanese minister arrived in Jordan on Thursday to seek the release of a hostage in Iraq, less than 24 hours before a deadline set by his captors, who have threatened to behead the youth unless Japan withdraws its troops.