Honduran President Ricardo Maduro said on Tuesday that his country had begun withdrawing its troops from Iraq, as the first of its 369 soldiers arrived in Kuwait, reports reaching here said.

Maduro, who is now on a tour of Japan, Spain and Italy, made the announcement in an interview broadcast early Tuesday from Tokyo.

"I'm pleased to officially announce to the Honduran people that we have begun withdrawing our soldiers from Iraq and that some of them are already in Kuwait," he said.

However, he did not specify how many troops had left Iraq, but said that preparations for a full withdrawal were under way and that all the troops would soon return home.

Honduras and the Dominican Republic decided last month to pull their troops out of Iraq following Spain's decision to bring home its soldiers in Iraq.

Honduras, a close ally of the United States, sent troops to Iraq around the middle of last year as peacekeepers, who had planned to stay there until July.

Source: Xinhua