The three Japanese civilians freed Thursday will be flown to Dubai on Friday and return to Japan as early as Saturday afternoon via a regular flight arriving in Osaka, Foreign Ministry said Friday.

They will meet Senior Vice Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa in Dubai. Aisawa is in charge of the Japanese government's task forceon the hostage crisis which is based in Amman.

The ministry said it has not yet decided whether to bring the three to Japan with Aisawa.

The three -- Soichiro Koriyama, 32, a freelance photojournalist,Nahoko Takato, 34, a volunteer worker, and Noriaki Imai, 18, a high school graduate -- were kidnapped last week by an armed Iraqigroup demanding the withdrawal of Japan's Self-Defense Forces troops from Iraq.

They were released Thursday through the mediation of the Islamic Clerics Association, a Sunni Muslim organization.

Source: Xinhua