Japan will announce a plan to pull out its ground troops from Iraq this month after the new Iraqi government takes over security operations in Muthanna province, where Japanese troops are stationed, the Asahi Shimbun said Saturday.

Over 500 members of the Ground Self-Defense Force are stationed in Samawah of the province, performing a humanitarian mission. Once the withdrawal starts, they would first move to Kuwait within a month before returning home, the paper said, quoting government sources.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is to announce the withdrawal before June 29, when he visits Washington, according to Asahi.

"I think that the situation is now being arranged to be able to pull out from Iraq earlier," Foreign Minister Taro Aso is quoted as saying on Friday.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Koizumi could announce the plan as early as Wednesday, since the British government is expected to announce on Tuesday the transfer of the security and administrative authority in Muthanna to the Iraqi government.

In line with earlier reports, Japan's Kuwait-based Air Self-Defense Forces (ASDF) is expected to continue transportation missions around the region and assist the transfer of U.N. personnel and supplies in Iraq even after the completion of the withdrawal of the ground troops.

Japan has stationed ground troops in Samawah, southern Iraq for a non-combat reconstruction mission since early 2004. Tokyo has repeatedly said that it would have to carefully consider the situation in Iraq before deciding on a troop pullout.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2006)