Taliban Reports Arrest of Japanese Journalist

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban confirmed in Islamabad that a Japanese journalist had been arrested for illegally entering the country and said they were investigating whether he was a spy.

The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, said the journalist, identified in the Japanese media as Isamu Iida, a 45-year-old freelance photographer, had been taken to Jalalabad.

He is the third foreign journalist arrested by the Taliban. British reporter Yvonne Ridley was released, but the Taliban is still holding Frenchman Michel Peyrard.