The four-wheel-drive vehicle used by the two Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq on Saturday had a "great number of bullet holes," reflecting the violence of the attack, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Katsuhiko Oku and Masamori Inoue left the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad at around 10 a.m. Saturday to attend a two-day gathering in the northern city of Tikrit on the reconstruction of Iraq.
It is less than a two-hour drive to Tikrit and the two called an embassy official before noon, a ministry official said.