"I hope that damage will be contained to as light as possible," the top Japanese government spokesman was quoted by Kyodo News.

"It would be better for Iraqi forces to make a decision early as the situation has come to this point," he said.

According to Kyodo, 2,000 to 3,000 Iraqi fighters were killed in the foray into Baghdad, the first since the start of the war on March 20. US officials said Sunday that more incursions into the capital will follow.

Japan's Senior Vice-Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Japan will consult about postwar Iraq with other countries on the basis of its recently announced five-point policy, which includes a call for sufficient UN involvement.

However, Motegi refrained from commenting on recent calls by the United States for humanitarian assistance and an interim administration led by the United States and possibly Britain after they topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein.

Motegi classified issues of postwar Iraq into four stages -- a military-led occupation administration, a civilian administration, reconstruction led by civil organs and that led by international organs -- and called for international debate on each, Kyodo said.

"We wouldn't say whether we like each suggestion, but we would like, as the Japanese government, to discuss with other countries how the international community will steer these discussions on the basis of the five-point policy Japan has unveiled," he said.

The policy, announced Friday, calls for maintaining Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity, establishing a new government through the choice of the Iraqi people, and promoting humanitarian and reconstruction assistance through sufficient UN involvement, Kyodo said.

The remaining two points in the policy call for Japan's involvement in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq and for involvement by nongovernmental organizations and the private sector, the news agency said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2003)