TOKYO, May 1 (UPI) -- Two of three Japanese hostages recently released from Iraq said they thought they would be killed, the Mainichi Times reported Saturday.
Freelance journalist Soichiro Koriyama and non-government organization leader Noriaki Imai talked about their April 7-14 ordeal.
The Iraqi insurgents first asked the hostages to cry in front of the camera. But Koriyama and Imai said their captors then thrust guns at them, indicating that they were "in no mood to play."
"We were really scared," the two said.
Initially, the hostage takers asked the three Japanese nationals whether they were conducting espionage in Iraq.
"Are you spies?" they quoted one man who called himself a general as asking them in English. Nahoko Takato, a female volunteer worker, explained their respective purposes for visiting Iraq.
After Takato's explanation, the general apologized to the three, according to Imai.
"They (the hostage takers) said they were trying to protect themselves from the United States' attacks on Fallujah," Koriyama said. "I think they were ordinary Iraqis."
Nahoko Takato did not attend the news conference because of "mental fatigue."
