Japan to send 110 SDF members to help pullout from Iraq: report

Japan plans to send about 110 Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) personnel to Iraq to help the withdrawal of its ground troops from the country in late March, the Daily Yomiuri said Sunday, citing government sources.

Some 600 Japanese ground troops have been stationed in Samawah, southern Iraq for a non-combat reconstruction mission since early 2004. Recently, Japanese media said that the government planned to start withdrawing them in March, though the government has yet to confirm the plan.

According to the Yomiuri, the additional GSDF personnel are experts in logistic supply and transportation, of whom around 100 will be sent to Kuwait and 10 to Samawah to assist withdrawal.

There are debates within the government as to whether the dispatch of additional 110 troops would violate Japan's stipulation limiting GSDF troops in Iraq to 600, the paper quoted unnamed government source as saying.

Source: Xinhua