Last 2 Japanese hostages released

BAGHDAD, April 17 (UPI) -- Iraqi insurgents released two Japanese hostages Saturday in apparent response to pleas by Sunni Muslim clerics.

The Committee of Sunni Muslim Ulemas said it handed over the last two Japanese captives in Iraq to the Japanese consul in Baghdad soon after their release.

Earlier this week, Iraqi gunmen released three Japanese hostages whom it had threaten to kill if Japan failed to pull out its troops from Iraq.