KUWAIT CITY, Nov 2 (AFP) - The decapitated remains of Japanese tourist Shosei Koda, killed in Iraq last week by an extremist group, left Kuwait Tuesday for home aboard a commercial flight, a spokesman for the Japanese embassy here said.
"The body was transported to Japan via Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It is scheduled to arrive at Koda's hometown in south Japan on Wednesday at 2030 local time," Koji Honda told AFP.
The body is accompanied by Japan's Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa, who arrived in Kuwait on Sunday, the spokesman added.
Koda's remains were flown from Iraq to Kuwait Tuesday morning aboard a US military plane.
Koda, 24, was killed by an Islamist group which had threatened to slay him unless Japan pulled out its 550 troops operating in Iraq -- a demand rejected by Tokyo.
His head and decapitated body with bound hands and feet were found wrapped in a US flag Saturday in Baghdad. Koda was the first Japanese national killed in Iraq amid a wave of kidnappings.
In April, militants kidnapped three Japanese aid workers and two journalists who were released unharmed after several days of mediation.
Koda's captors from the Al-Qaeda-linked group of Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Tuesday posted a video and photos on an Islamist website showing his beheading.
11/02/2004 18:53 GMT - AFP