TOKYO Jul 17, 2006 (AP)— The last batch of Japanese troops touched down in Kuwait from southern Iraq on Monday, ending the country's largest and most dangerous overseas mission since World War II.
About 220 troops arrived at Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base from Samawah, the provincial capital of Muthanna, on C-130 transport air planes, the Defense Agency said in a statement. The contingent was the last of about 600 non-combat soldiers previously stationed in Samawah to distribute water and assist in other humanitarian tasks.
"Our ground forces have bravely completed their mission and have now safely withdrawn to Kuwait," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters Monday after the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"We carried out our humanitarian and reconstruction tasks without firing a single shot in fact, without pointing a gun at anyone," Koizumi said. "Our mission was very highly rated by the Iraqi people."
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