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Japan's first Iraq casualties are ambushed on the way to Tikrit in the Saddam-sympathetic `Sunni Triangle.'
Two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver were shot and killed near Tikrit in northern Iraq on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
Katsuhiko Oku, 45, a counselor from the Japanese Embassy in London, and Masamori Inoue, 30, a third secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad, were the first Japanese killed in Iraq since the war began in March.
The attack came as Tokyo is wrangling with a plan to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to the war-ravaged country to assist in reconstruction efforts.
The two were attacked around 11 a.m. local time about 15 kilometers south of Tikrit as they traveled by car from Baghdad. Their driver, initially identified as Lebanese, also died in the attack, ministry officials said.
Oku and Inoue were on their way to a meeting with nongovernmental organizations in the northern city to discuss aid to the region when the ambush occurred.
No armed guards were with the two, ministry officials said.
An Iraqi police chief told Asahi Shimbun correspondent Yasunori Kawakami that the black Toyota Landcruiser carrying the diplomats was attacked in a drive-by shooting.
The official cited witnesses who said a vehicle approached the diplomats' vehicle from behind, and a passenger opened fire with an AK-47.
The Landcruiser crashed into a field 30 meters from the site of the shooting, and a shopowner reported the attack to police. When police arrived about an hour later, the Iraqi driver and Inoue, who was in the front seat, were already dead. Oku was unconscious and critically injured. He was pronounced dead at 2 p.m. in a Tikrit hospital, the official said.
The left side of the Landcruiser was riddled with 29 bullet holes. The vehicle's license plates were also found inside the vehicle.
According to Iraqi police, U.S. officials often use black four-wheel-drive vehicles without license plates. They suspect the attackers may have believed the vehicle was carrying U.S. military officials.
The attack shocked the Japanese government and the nation.
``There is a high probability that this was an act of terrorism, but it is important not to be swayed by this,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters.
``It is extremely regrettable. ... I cannot but feel angry,'' Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters at his private residence in Shinagawa Ward. He added, however, that it was too early to determine whether the attacks were the work of terrorists or bandits.
The attack was in the area known as the ``Sunni Triangle,'' the former stronghold of ousted President Saddam Hussein and a center of resistance to the U.S.-led occupation.
Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said her ministry would take measures to prevent further deaths. She said Tokyo has no plans to withdraw the nine embassy officials now in Baghdad.
The government has instructed these officials to take extra safety precautions, and has asked other Japanese in the country to follow the government's warning to leave Iraq. Aside from the media, only one other Japanese, a nongovernmental worker, is reported to be in Iraq, according to the Foreign Ministry.
A government team headed by Kazunori Tanaka, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, left Sunday for Kuwait to receive the bodies of the two diplomats, and to oversee safety measures to protect Japanese in Iraq.
Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary of state, called Kawaguchi on Sunday to express his condolences, the ministry said. Powell agreed to Kawaguchi's request for help in investigating the slayings and protecting Japanese in Iraq, they said.
Oku joined the Foreign Ministry in 1981 after graduating from Waseda University in Tokyo. After serving at embassies in Iran and the United States, Oku was appointed to the embassy in Britain.
In April, he was dispatched to Iraq as Japanese representative to the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), which later became the CPA, and had since worked in planning Japan's role in reconstruction.
Oku had been writing ``Letters from Iraq'' for a Foreign Ministry Web site that described his activities since entering Iraq.
On Nov. 13, after an Italian military police base was attacked in Nasiriya, Oku wrote, ``We are definitely engaged in a war against terrorism.
``Our mission is to banish all terrorists. It is a mission for all of us.''
Inoue joined the ministry in 1996 after graduating from Kumamoto University. He served at embassies in Syria and Tunisia before being dispatched to Iraq in April. An expert in the Arabic language, he assisted Oku as an interpreter.(IHT/Asahi: December 1,2003) (12/01)
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