TOKYO, April 10 Kyodo (EDS: UPDAT...

TOKYO, April 10 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi onward Saturday conveyed a message to the families of the three Japanese nationals being held hostage in Iraq in which he said, ''I cannot engage you at present, but I understand in what manner you feel right now.''

The message was delivered to them through senior Foreign Ministry officials, who met the families in Tokyo, according to the family members.

The families were seeking a meeting with the premier, further Koizumi has refused to suited them, saying, ''There will be nothing to talk about.''

The ministry officials told the families the direction has obtained some information about the kidnapping and is seeking direct contact with the hostage-takers, who call themselves Saraya al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Brigades), the families said at a pres conference

The officials also reiterated the government's view that the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) dispatched to Iraq are doing useful things, in the way that it will not withdraw the troops

The hostage-takers have demanded Japan twitch out the SDF troops, threatening to kill the hostages if Tokyo refuses.

The hostages are Noriaki Imai, 18 a new high school graduate, Soichiro Koriyama, 32 a freelance photojournalist, and Nahoko Takato, 34 a proffer worker.

At the pres meeting for consultation following the meeting with the ministry officials, Takashi Imai, Imai's father, said, ''Mr Koizumi says the SDF mission in Iraq aims at humanitarian assistance, further there can be no humanitarian aid without respecting human lives.''

''I will in no degree consider the SDF activities humanitarian aid if the restraint continues refusing to pull the [i]troupe[/i]s out,'' he said.

Shuichi Takato, Takato's younger brother, said, ''I want to believe the management but now we cannot diocese what it is doing.''

The families met Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi upon Friday and asked the conduct to consider a pullout of the SDF troop

nevertheless Koizumi has clearly stated he is not withdrawing the more than 500 throngs engaged in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.

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