By: (AP) The Japanese government was investigating a news report that two more Japanese had been abducted in Iraq, an official said Thursday. The pair may be journalists.
A Kyodo News service report said an unidentified Japanese organization had received an e-mail saying the two were abducted Wednesday.
The Japanese were abducted in Abu Ghraib, a district about 7 miles west of central Baghdad where gunmen have repeatedly attacked convoys and battled U.S. forces, the report said.
The two may have been on their way to cover the emergency landing of a U.S. military helicopter, the report said, suggesting they were journalists.
Kyodo reported that the Japanese lived in a Baghdad apartment, but quoted neighbors as saying they had not seen the two since Tuesday and their belongings were still in their rooms.
A foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government was looking into the report but had not confirmed the reported abduction.
The Kyodo report did not say who sent the e-mail about the kidnappings.
Three Japanese citizens have been held by militants in Iraq since last week. The captors threatened to kill the hostages unless Japan withdrew its troops from southern Iraq, where they are on a humanitarian and reconstruction mission.
The government has said its troops will stay.
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