A U.S. soldier was killed and two others were injured in an explosion near the Iraqi flashpoint town of Fallujah, witnesses said Thursday.
Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack in the capital Baghdad Wednesday, according to the U.S. military.
"Two soldiers from the 1st Armored Division were injured when an explosive device blew up against their patrol in central Baghdad, on the eastern side of the river, on Wednesday at 09:00 am (0600 GMT)," a military spokesman said on Thursday.
The spokesman said the soldier was critically injured Wednesday and died from his wounds several hours later.
"One of them unfortunately died from his wounds last night at 09:00 pm," he added.
Meanwhile, in what seems to be a fresh blow to U.S. efforts in Iraq, Japan pulled back Thursday from sending troops to strengthen international forces in the country, a day after the worst attack yet on U.S.-occupation forces.
The conditions were not right for Japan to send troops, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters, hours after an attack on an Italian military police base in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah claimed 27 Italian and Iraqi lives.
"If the situation allowed our Self-Defense Forces to participate, they could go at any time... Unfortunately, it is not such a situation," Fukuda told a news conference Thursday.
His comments come as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld prepares to visit Tokyo for talks which had been expected to see Japan commit to sending troops to aid its U.S. ally.
It should be mentioned that just hours before the attack in Nasiriyah, Tokyo had issued its strongest public message to date that it planned to send troops later this year. "We are firm in our thinking that we will have a dispatch this year," Fukuda said Wednesday.
And on Thursday Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that intimidation would not deflect Japan from its commitment to help rebuild the war-torn country.
"We cannot be daunted by terrorism," he said. "Iraq's reconstruction is a problem for the whole of the international community... We cannot lose to terrorists," he added.
However, the Japanese law on helping rebuild Iraq, enacted in July, prohibits the government from sending troops to combat zones and Samawah, where the Japanese are expected to be based, is less than 100 kilometers from Nasiriyah, AFP said.
Fukuda, the top government spokesman insisted Thursday, "We have consistently felt that we want to participate as soon as possible in helping with reconstruction... (but) we must react to the changing situation." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
