DUBAI, Oct 26 (AFP) - The Islamic militant group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi said in a video shown on the Internet on Tuesday 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.
"We are giving the Japanese government 48 hours in which to withdraw its troops from Iraq, otherwise this infidel will join the others (executed in Iraq)," a member of the militant group said in the video, in which the hostage apparently also featured.
Among the "others", he mentioned the American Nicholas Berg and Briton Kenneth Bigley, who were killed this year by militants from the Zarqawi group.
The group did not give the hostage's identity or indicate where or when he was kidnapped.
"We will withhold his (identity) documents until he has been recognized by his family and the Japanese government," he said.
The Japanese citizen had arrived in Iraq via "Israel, then Jordan," the militant reading the statement said.
The hostage, wearing a white T-shirt and seated at the feet of three masked and armed men, including one who read the brief statement, said a few barely audible words in which he called on the government to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
A black banner bearing the name of the Al-Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers (Iraq), the new name of Zarqawi's group, hung above the kidnappers.
Despite widespread objections at home, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's coalition government rammed through a law last year to send troops to Iraq, the first Japanese military deployment since World War II in a country where fighting was under way.
The deployment has been criticised as a violation of Japan's pacifist constitution which bans the use of force in settling international disputes.
Koizumi, a close ally of US President George W. Bush, was an early backer of the invasion of Iraq, saying he believed president Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.
Five Japanese civilians were abducted by Islamic extremists in Iraq in April.
The hostage takers demanded Tokyo withdraw troops from Iraq but Tokyo refused. All five -- two journalists and three aid workers -- were later released unhurt.
Zarqawi's group, which changed its name from Al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), shortly after recently pledging allegiance to Al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for a string of bombings, kidnappings and killings in Iraq.
Both the Jordanian-born Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden have a 25-million-dollar US bounty on their heads.
The video released Tuesday, signed by the group's information department, was broadcast on the website.
10/26/2004 22:08 GMT - AFP