The two Japanese diplomats who were shot dead in northern Iraq were hit by more than a dozen bullets, the Metropolitan Police Department said Friday in releasing the results of autopsies.
Coroners found that the cause of death for Katsuhiko Oku, 45, was a fatal shot to the head, while that for Masamori Inoue, 30, was blood loss resulting from severed arteries in his left arm, the police said.
The autopsies were conducted after the bodies were flown back to Japan on Thursday.
The two diplomats were gunned down near the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, along with their Iraqi driver, Jerjees Sulaiman Zura, 54.
Oku was shot several times in the left side of his head and about 10 times in his left side and arm, while Inoue sustained four to five bullet wounds in his left side and chest, they said.
Both still had bullets in their bodies. Police will use these to determine the type of guns that were used.
Oku was a counselor dispatched to Iraq from the Japanese Embassy in London, while Inoue was a third secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad.
The Foreign Ministry posthumously promoted Oku to ambassador and Inoue to first secretary.
They are the first Japanese casualties in Iraq since the U.S.-led war began in March.
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the government has honored Oku, Inoue and their Iraqi driver.
Oku was given the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck, while the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, went to Inoue.