UPDATE: Updated post "Zarqawi Releases Beheading Video of Japanese Victim" here. If you are looking for the latest news and information on a more recent beheading/ murder video released by the terrorist bastards, PLEASE GO TO THE MAIN PAGE HERE.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the group formerly knows as Tawhid wal Jihad and now renamed 'Al-Qaida's Committee in Mesopotamia', has released a videotape of a Japanese hostage. In the video, Zarqawi threatens to behead the Japanese hostage "if Tokyo did not withdraw its troops" within 48 hours. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has stated that all Japanese troops would remain in Iraq and Japan has denied that any members of it's military are missing.

[Right: Image from the video courtesy of Reuters]

According to Reuters, the terrorist group gave "...the Japanese government 48 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq or this infidel will meet the same fate as [Nick] Berg ... and the other infidels." The man on the video does not appear to be a member of the military and it is unknown at this time what he was doing in Iraq. Japan has about 550 troops in Iraq, all of which are engaged in non-combat infrastructure building activities.

According to Channel News Asia via Simon, Japanese TV station NHK is reporting that the hostage is 24 year old Akio Koda. It is not known why Koda was in Iraq. NHK describes him as a drifter who has been out of contact with his parents for months. In the hostage video, the terrorists claim to have evidence that Koda had recently been in Israel and in Jordan recently.

Developing......

Posted by: Rusty at 08:58 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 275 words, total size 2 kb.