A Japanese traveler taken hostage by an Islamic militant group in Iraq was probably kidnapped in or around Baghdad, local sources said Thursday.
Shosei Koda, 24, who entered Iraq last Thursday, had said he was going to visit Samawah, where Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force troops are stationed. But the sources said that no one has reported seeing him at hotels or bus terminals in the southern Iraqi city.
Police in Samawah also said they have no reports of him. It is relatively easy to spot a stranger in the city, one senior police officer said.
Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa arrived in Amman from Japan on Thursday to head a task force to deal with the abduction.