Portugal is still undecided whether to pull out its 128-strong police contingent from Iraq in November when it ends a one-year mandate, Interior Minister Daniel Sanchez said Thursday.

"No policy decision on maintaining the national guard unit (in Iraq) has been made," Sanchez said after meeting police officers returning on rotation at a military airport near Lisbon.

"This decision will be made before next Nov. 12," when the current mandate expires, he added.

Portugal sent a police contingent of 128 officers to Iraq in mid-November 2003, after President Jorge Sampaio ruled out a military deployment.

The move provoked widespread concern and opposition in the country, and the government has been accused of disregarding the soldiers' lives and "turning those men into cannon fodder."

A poll in early June also showed that 70 percent of Portuguese wanted their troops to come back home.

Source: Xinhua