Japanese military vehicle damaged by protesters in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 10:37

A group of Iraqis opposed to Japan's military presence damaged a Japanese military vehicle in southern Iraq, the Defense Agency said Monday, as Tokyo prepared to announce whether it will extend the humanitarian mission for another year.

A mirror on an armored truck was broken Sunday when protesters threw stones outside a building repaired by Japanese troops in the town of Rumaythah near Samawah, an agency spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity in line with agency policy. No one was injured, she said, adding that no other details were immediately available.

The incident occurred a day after Japanese defense chief Fukushiro Nukaga visited the town to inspect Japanese troops and review the area's safety ahead of an expected decision to extend the mission for another year.

The troop dispatch, Japan's largest since World War II, is to expire December 14, and Tokyo hasn't officially announced whether it will be extended.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was to arrive in Tokyo later Monday for talks with his counterpart, Junichiro Koizumi, on Japan's support for Iraq's reconstruction and the role of Japanese troops in Samawah, where about 600 Japanese troops are rebuilding schools, purifying water and conducting other humanitarian work.

Some 40 armed demonstrators, believed to be members of a Shiite Muslim group backing anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, surrounded the building where a ceremony marking the completion of its repairs was being held and threw stones at a line of Japanese military vehicles parked outside, demanding Japan's withdrawal, Kyodo News agency reported.

After his visit to Samawah, Nukaga issued a statement saying the area was relatively safe and stressing the need to extend Japan's mission.

Nukaga brushed off the stone-throwing protest, saying "It's not the first time for such an incident."

In June, a roadside explosion that damaged a Japanese military vehicle in Samawah led the troops to temporarily suspend their activities outside the base.

Nukaga's weekend visit to Samawah was largely seen as an attempt to gain public support for an extension of the increasingly unpopular mission.

Many Japanese say the deployment violates the nation's pacifist constitution and has made Japan a target for terrorism.