But a militant group holding three Japanese captives was
reported early this morning to have agreed to free them.
But just after 2 am today, the Iraqi group Saraya al-Mujahideen,
which kidnapped three Japanese hostages, said it would release them
within 24 hours, abandoning a threat to kill them, Arabic
television station Al-Jazeera said.
'They will release them in 24 hours in response to a call from the
Muslim Clerics Association,' the TV station said, referring to a
body of Iraqi religious scholars.
The change of mind came after Japan's Foreign Minister Yoriko
Kawaguchi appealed for the release of the Japanese hostages in a
videotaped message set for worldwide broadcast.
'The three Japanese hostages are private individuals, and friends
of Iraq... The people of Japan and I strongly demand an immediate
and safe release of the three hostages,' she said in the
message.
The militants had earlier threatened to kill the three - a teenage
peace activist, a woman aid worker and a photojournalist - by 8pm
today if Japanese troops do not pull out of Iraq by
then.
I can't believe it 
They are going to be freed !
They seemed to have freed the 7 Christian Koreans captured
initially too because they pretended to be fromt he medical
team
Eight South Korean Christian missionaries were held by
insurgents at a roadblock but were released unharmed on Thursday
after they pretended to be doctors and nurses, the Foreign Ministry
said.
