Japanese journalist detained in Iraq freed

A Japanese journalist who was detained in Iraq in the northern Kurdish region and thought to have been held by Kurdish authorities near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, has been freed, the Japanese media reported on Monday.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK said Kosuke Tsuneoka, who was detained while trying to cover a fresh offensive by Iraqi and Kurdish military last month in a bid to recapture the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, had told NHK that he had been released recently.

Tsuneoka, 47, was unharmed and in what NHK described as "good health." The journalist will be returning to Japan on a flight from an airport in northern Iraq, with further details not being disclosed.

Tsuneoka was reportedly detained last month by local authorities, but fears were somewhat alleviated when Kyodo News reported that Japanese foreign ministry officials had met with the detained journalist.

Since Tsuneoka had been detained the Japanese government advised all Japanese citizens to avoid entering Iraq under any circumstances.

The order was also issued to journalists, with the abduction and brutal executions by the IS of journalist Kenji Goto in February last year and contractor Haruna Yukawa, to avoid that war-ravaged country.

Tsuneoka, who claimed to be an expert on Islamic State-related issues, had also covered insurgency and fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and was captured and detained by a militant group in Afghanistan in April 2010, but was freed in September of the same year. Endit