Honduras has begun its troop pullout from Iraq, as the first of its 369 soldiers arrived in Kuwait, Honduran President, Ricardo Maduro, has announced in an interview broadcast from Japan.
"I'm pleased to officially announce to the Honduran people that we have begun withdrawing our soldiers from Iraq and that some of them are already in Kuwait," Maduro said.
Honduras and the Dominican Republic decided to pull their troops out of Iraq last month, following Madrid's decision to do the same.
The Honduran soldiers and around 300 Dominican troops were attached to the 1,400-strong Spanish-led brigade in Najaf, located some 160 kilometers south of the capital.
Maduro did not specify how many troops had left Iraq, but said preparations for a full withdrawal were well under way and that all the troops would soon return to Tegucigalpa.
He refused to provide dates on the pullout "for the security of the soldiers."
In the meantime, South Korea is set to dispatch a new survey team to Iraq on a mission that will further delay the country's planned deployment of thousands of forces there, officials said.
Earlier, the government said it would send 3,600 troops to one of two destinations in northern Iraq around June. An original plan to start sending troops in April had already been scrapped.
The June date has now been put back at least a month to July amid continued wrangling over the destination of the contingent, destined to be the biggest US occupation partner in Iraq after Britain. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
