BAGHDAD, April 17: Two Japanese held hostage in Iraq were released by their captors here on Saturday and turned over to an association of Sunni Muslim scholars just hours after a detained US soldier, flanked by hooded gunmen, was paraded on an Arabic satellite channel.

As relief swept Tokyo at the end of a saga in which a total of five Japanese were finally freed - three of whom had been threatened with being burnt alive - friends of the American soldier's family who saw the video confirmed the identity of army Private First Class Matthew Maupin.

He was the first US soldier known to be held hostage in the war-torn country.

The release of the last two Japanese, freelance journalist Junpei Yasuda, 30, and human rights activist Nobutaka Watanabe, 36, came two days after the first three were freed.

Yasuda and Watanabe were handed over to Japanese embassy staff at a mosque in Baghdad at around 0830 GMT.

"The two were released, they are next to me," Sheikh Abdul Salam Kubaissi, an official at the Committee of Muslim Scholars said here. "They are in very good health."

"It's good news," said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose government had been plunged into crisis by the kidnappings. "The families must be relieved."

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi echoed Koizumi's sentiments."I am glad both incidents were resolved," she said. "I am very much pleased and I express my heartfelt delight for their families."

Kubaissi said a representative from the Japanese embassy was present at the handover at the headquarters of the committee in west Baghdad.

Watanabe, 36, told the Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) after his release that his captors had a message for the Japanese people.

"The armed group is very angry at the US military occupation of Iraq but Japan is Iraq's friend," an NHK reporter quoted Watanabe as saying in a broadcast seen in Tokyo.

"We don't want to harm our friends. Please tell this to the people of Japan," the group said, adding however that Japan should also withdraw its some 550 troops from Iraq. The Tokyo government has rejected the demand.

Kubaissi said: "One of the Japanese said that his captors determined, after verifying his identity, that he was an honest man and that he opposed the occupation and the presence of Japanese soldiers in Iraq."

He added that the two Japanese said they wanted to stay in Iraq "to inform and carry out their humanitarian work."

The release of the pair came as Japan prepared to welcome home the three nationals freed on Thursday after spending a harrowing week as captives of gunmen near Fallujah.

In contrast, the Arabic television station on Friday broad-cast footage of the United States soldier held hostage by insurgents.

Maupin was one of two soldiers who went missing along with seven US contractors after an attack on a fuel convoy near Baghdad airport that left one dead and 12 wounded a week ago.-AFP