DUBAI- An Al-Qaeda-linked militant group said it had seized a Japanese hostage during a "fierce battle" in western Iraq, in a statement posted on an Islamist website Monday.
Identity card photographs accompanying the statement from the Army of Ansar al-Sunna gave the hostage's name as Akihiko Saito, 34.
It also showed two pages from Saito's passport and a document from Basra (southern Iraq) Air Station saying he was "authorised to escort, authorised to carry weapons" until April 14, 2006.
The statement said that Saito was captured during an ambush of a convoy leaving a US base during which several other foreigners were killed and Saito seriously wounded.
"Your mujahedeen brothers obtained information saying cars had left the American military base of Al-Assad, carrying contractors and Western intelligence (agents), supported by the forces of apostasy (Iraqi security forces), disguised as civilians.
"The mujahedeen set up an ambush when they arrived near Hit (in the Euphrates Valley 175 kilometres or 110 miles west of Baghdad). There were 12 apostates and five foreigners carrying the most sophisticated weapons.
"A fierce battle erupted in this area. The apostates and foreigners called for American reinforcements.
"The mujahedeen launched a ferocious attack which ended with several severely wounded among the apostates and foreigners who surrendered.
"When the American helicopters arrived, the mujahedeen captured and killed (their hostages), except for one of them, a Japanese, currently detained by the mujahedeen but whose wounds are serious.
"We will publish photographs of those who were killed," it said.
Kyodo News said the Japanese Defense Agency knew of none of its soldiers missing in Samawa, where some 600 Japanese troops are based.
But the news agency said the alleged hostage may be working for the Pentagon as a security guard, while adding that the US Defense Department had yet to confirm that.
Japanese forces are on a historic mission to Iraq as it is the first time since World War II that Tokyo has deployed the military to a country where there is active fighting.
The Japanese forces have suffered no casualties, although in October an Al-Qaeda-linked group kidnapped and beheaded a 24-year-old Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda.
Ansar al-Sunna has claimed a string of attacks in Iraq, including murders of foreign hostages and Iraqis accused of "collaborating" with US-led forces.
It has often released video footage of the killings on Islamist websites.
05/09/2005 17:41 GMT