Baghdad: The Iraqi army has arrested a member of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group who confessed to beheading a Japanese backpacker in October 2004. Ibnal Masriya killed the 24-year-old when demands that Tokyo withdraw its troops were not met.
The killing renewed pressure on Japan's government to withdraw troops from Iraq, where they are working on humanitarian projects in the southern city of Samawah.
Shosei Koda's headless body was found abandoned on a street in Baghdad. Japan has roughly 600 non-combat troops in Samawa,h south of the Capital Baghdad.
At the time, many Japanese blamed Koda for putting himself in danger despite repeated warnings against travel to Iraq.
Koda was abducted in Iraq and a group linked to the al-Qaida network threatened to behead him unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq "within 24 hours" in a video posted on a website on Oct. 26, 2004.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi refused to comply with the demand. Japan has hundreds of Ground Self-Defense Force troops stationed in southern Iraq on a reconstruction mission.
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