Japanese soldiers head home from Iraq

"Thirty-eight Japanese soldiers left Iraq today. The actual troop withdrawal has started," the source told AFP, adding the soldiers left for Kuwait.

Japan ordered its 600 troops to leave Iraq on June 20, ending its first military mission since World War II to a country where fighting is under way. The withdrawal is expected to be completed by late July.

While the withdrawal of Japanese troops from the southern province of Muthanna began on Friday, Japan has been moving its military vehicles and engineering equipment out of Iraq since June 20.

The Japanese mission in Iraq relied on British and Australian troops for protection as its own troops are barred from using force.

The British military when contacted declined to comment on the troop withdrawal.

In June Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that Iraq would assume responsibility for security in Muthanna province -- the first such handover of a region from coalition troops to fledgling Iraqi forces.

Japan's military mission, which has helped reconstruct the relatively peaceful area around the city of Samawa since January 2004, is the first of its kind since Japan was forced by the United States to renounce war after World War II.

Announcing the plan to bring home the troops, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had said the troops had accomplished their goal of rebuilding the relatively peaceful region.

Koizumi, who touts his personal friendship with US President George W. Bush, went ahead with the Iraq deployment despite domestic opposition in a country that has been firmly pacifist for six decades.

During their mission in Iraq, the Japanese troops suffered no casualties and did not fire their weapons.

Japan also sent troops to Cambodia in 1993 as part of a UN force and some troops to Thailand and Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami disaster. More recently, it sent military medical teams to Indonesia following its latest deadly earthquake.