Demonstrators hold up protesting placards in front of Parliament in Tokyo during a rally, demanding the withdrawal of Japan Self-Defense Forces from Iraq Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

A protester holds up a candle with a 'Stop the war' message.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says Japan won't yield to terrorism by

Video on a militant Islamic website shows a Japanese man was kidnapped in Iraq on Tuesday.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

withdrawing its troops from Iraq, in response to reports an Iraqi group kidnapped a Japanese man, China Radio International reported Wednesday.

    But Koizumi pledged that the Japanese government will do all it can to secure the release of the Japanese hostage.

    Sources say Japan will send a senior Foreign Ministry official to Jordan following reports that an Islamic militant group has taken a Japanese man hostage.

    Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa will be dispatched to the Jordanian capital of Amman to set up an ad hoc team to deal with the reported hostage taking.

    Japanese officials say the 24 year-old hostage, Akio Koda's family has not heard from him for months.

    The hostage's father, reviewing an Islamic militant video at the request of the foreign ministry, confirmed the hostage to be his son from the southern prefecture of Fukuoka.

    The Arab television network al-Jazeera reported on its web site a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it kidnapped the Japanese national and will behead him unless Japan's Self-Defence Force troops leave Iraq within 48 hours.Enditem

    (CRIENGLISH.com)