M A I N   N E W S

2 Japanese journalists killed in Iraq

Mahmudiya (Iraq), May 28
Two Japanese freelance journalists were killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on their vehicle south of Baghdad, their Iraqi driver told the hospital where the bodies were taken today.

Hospital Director Imad al-Maliki said the bodies were beyond recognition, but the driver of the vehicle told him they were the bodies of two Japanese freelance journalists.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry, which confirmed the yesterday’s attack but said it did not know the fate of the two, said the journalists involved were Shinsuke Hashida, a 61-year-old freelancer, and his nephew, 33-year-old Kotaro Ogawa.

Their gutted four-wheel-drive vehicle was still at the scene of the attack today, with its tyres burned off and paintwork stained black by smoke. A single shoe lay in the back of the car. — Reuters