Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi struck a defiant pose Friday over the Japanese hostage crisis in Iraq, stating he would not cave in to terrorists' demands that the Self-Defense Forces troops be withdrawn from the country.
A militant group calling itself Saraya al-Mujahideen has taken three Japanese civilians hostage and has threatened to kill them unless the government decides to pull the troops out by Sunday night.
"No, I don't," Koizumi told a Friday morning news conference when asked whether he had any intention of withdrawing SDF troops currently deployed in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.