Japanese Hostage May Be Dead, Company Says

[Barrett808]

LONDON - A Japanese security consultant taken hostage in Iraq may have died from wounds sustained in the ambush by insurgents earlier this week, the company that employed him said Wednesday.

Akihito Saito, 44, was taken hostage after insurgents ambushed the car in which he was traveling west of Baghdad on Sunday, according to the international security firm Hart.

The militant group Ansar al-Sunnah Army has claimed responsibility for the ambush and the abduction, saying on its Web site Monday that it killed four foreign contractors and that a fifth, Saito, was seriously wounded.

Hart said it has not given up hope Saito may be alive. "However an eyewitness report indicates that wounds sustained at the time of the incident may have proved fatal," the company's London office said in a statement on its Web site.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050511/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_japanese_hostage