2 remaining ASDF cargo planes return from Iraq airlift mission

NAGOYA, Dec. 21 Kyodo -
The two remaining Air Self-Defense Force C-130H cargo planes involved in an
airlift mission in Iraq returned to Japan on Sunday with 27 troops aboard.
The first of the three planes involved in the airlift operations returned to
Japan on Friday and around 100 ASDF members -- the bulk of the troops that took
part in the mission -- will return on an ASDF passenger jet by Tuesday.
After the two planes arrived at the ASDF's Komaki base in Aichi Prefecture,
Maj. Osamu Kato told a press conference, ''We are relieved that no one has
fallen victim during the mission.''
Starting in March 2004, the ASDF transported goods and supplies for Japanese
ground troops deployed in Iraq from a base in Kuwait to an airfield near
Samawah, where the troops were providing humanitarian and reconstruction
assistance.
After the Ground Self-Defense Force troops withdrew in July 2006, the ASDF
began airlifting personnel and supplies for U.S.-led multinational forces and
the United Nations in Iraq, linking the Kuwaiti base with three Iraqi cities
including Baghdad.
Of the roughly 46,500 personnel transported by the ASDF during the mission,
about 30,000 are believed to have been U.S. troops and other multinational
forces.
The Japanese government ordered the ASDF to pull out of the region last month.
==Kyodo