duck
11-29-2003, 05:32 PM
Two Japanese Killed in Iraq Near Tikrit
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO (*******) - Two Japanese who may have been diplomats were killed in an apparent ambush near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday, citing information received from Japan's Iraq (news - web sites) embassy.
A non-Japanese driver was also injured in the attack near the birthplace of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), the spokesman, Hatsuhisa Takashima, told *******.
"There is a good possibility they are Japanese diplomats," he said.
The news is likely to complicate efforts by Japan, one of the closest United States allies in Asia, to decide when to send non-combat troops to help rebuild Iraq, with voters already growing increasingly nervous about the dangers involved.
Political analysts have said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi risks a serious blow to his popularity, an especially unwelcome prospect with an election for parliament's Upper House looming in July 2004, if troops are sent and deaths occur.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Takashima told ******* that it was "too early to say anything" about the possible impact of the deaths on Japan's planned troop dispatch.
Takashima said that the car in which the two Japanese were traveling had been identified as a black, four-wheel-drive armored car, Lebanon registered.
"That identification resembles (a vehicle) of the Japanese embassy in Baghdad," he said, adding that the embassy was collecting further information and that the bodies of the two Japanese were now in a hospital in Tikrit.
"Unfortunately, it is night right now and because the area of Tikrit is not safe, they cannot move at the moment. As soon as the sun rises this morning, the Japanese embassy will dispatch someone to Tikrit," he added.
Tokyo had inched closer to a troop dispatch on Friday, when Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said a recent fact-finding mission had reported that the southern part of the country -- the likely destination of any troop deployment -- was relatively stable.
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO (*******) - Two Japanese who may have been diplomats were killed in an apparent ambush near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday, citing information received from Japan's Iraq (news - web sites) embassy.
A non-Japanese driver was also injured in the attack near the birthplace of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), the spokesman, Hatsuhisa Takashima, told *******.
"There is a good possibility they are Japanese diplomats," he said.
The news is likely to complicate efforts by Japan, one of the closest United States allies in Asia, to decide when to send non-combat troops to help rebuild Iraq, with voters already growing increasingly nervous about the dangers involved.
Political analysts have said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi risks a serious blow to his popularity, an especially unwelcome prospect with an election for parliament's Upper House looming in July 2004, if troops are sent and deaths occur.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Takashima told ******* that it was "too early to say anything" about the possible impact of the deaths on Japan's planned troop dispatch.
Takashima said that the car in which the two Japanese were traveling had been identified as a black, four-wheel-drive armored car, Lebanon registered.
"That identification resembles (a vehicle) of the Japanese embassy in Baghdad," he said, adding that the embassy was collecting further information and that the bodies of the two Japanese were now in a hospital in Tikrit.
"Unfortunately, it is night right now and because the area of Tikrit is not safe, they cannot move at the moment. As soon as the sun rises this morning, the Japanese embassy will dispatch someone to Tikrit," he added.
Tokyo had inched closer to a troop dispatch on Friday, when Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said a recent fact-finding mission had reported that the southern part of the country -- the likely destination of any troop deployment -- was relatively stable.