Japanese hostages to be released in 24 hours

An Iraqi group which said it kidnapped three Japanese hostages has said it will release them within 24 hours, abandoning a threat to kill them, Arabic television station Al Jazeera said on Saturday.
"They will release them in 24 hours in response to a call from the Muslim Clerics Association," Al Jazeera said, referring to a body of Iraqi religious scholars.
An Al Jazeera spokesman told Reuters the Qatar-based channel received the information in a fax from the group called Saraya al-Mujahideen, which said on Thursday in a tape that it would kill the Japanese if Japan did not withdraw troops from Iraq by a deadline on Sunday.