Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Sunday indicated that Japan will send troops to Iraq as planned despite an attack on two Japanese diplomats, who were ambushed and killed in northern Iraq on Saturday.  

The attack was possibly "by terrorists," and is the first Japanese casualties in Iraq since the US-led war there began in March, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

While condemning terrorism, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signaled that Japan will send Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops to Iraq as planned to help with the reconstruction of the country.

"I have said Japan will do everything it should regarding Iraq's reconstruction, humanitarian assistance and dispatch of the SDF as well as civilians and government officials," Koizumi told reporters at his residence. "Our basic policy remains the same."

Koizumi indicated earlier in the day that his government will continue to pursue its reconstruction policy on Iraq, saying Japan "has a responsibility" to help the Iraqis rebuild their country.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, the top cabinet spokesman, told reporters at a separate press conference, "There is a strong possibility that terrorists were involved. This is how it looks to us."

The attack with small arms occurred near Tikrit, about 150 kilometers north of Baghdad, around 5 p.m. local time (1400 GMT), Foreign Ministry officials said citing reports from Iraq.

Tikrit is the ancestral hometown of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and located in the strife-ridden Sunni Triangle where anti-American sentiment remains strong.

The two diplomats killed were identified as Masamori Inoue, 30, a third secretary from the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad, and Katsuhiko Oku, 45, a counselor from the Japanese Embassy in London.     

According to Japanese Foreign Ministry officials, the diplomats were heading to Tikrit for a conference on reconstruction work in northern Iraq. They were traveling in a black four-wheel-drive vehicle with a Lebanese registration number.

The driver of the car, an unidentified Middle Eastern man, was seriously injured, the officials said.

In a telephone conversation Sunday with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi urged the United States to help investigate the attack and protect Japanese nationals in Iraq.

According to Kyodo News, Kawaguchi told Powell, "Japan's basic policy remains unshakable -- to support the reconstruction of Iraq and actively take part in the war on terror."

Japan's Opposition party leaders reiterated their objections to the planned dispatch of SDF troops to Iraq.

Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition party, said his party will again demand the convening of an extraordinary Diet session for a thorough deliberation of Iraqi affairs.

According to Kawaguchi, the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad was notified of the attack by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

The ministry set up an emergency task force headed by Kawaguchito to handle the case.

Kazunori Tanaka, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, left Tokyo for Kuwait on Sunday afternoon to gather information on the incident, the ministry said.

Tanaka, accompanied by five Foreign Ministry officials, will also collect the bodies of the two diplomats in Kuwait, but he will not visit Iraq, the ministry said.

"While there is little information about the assailants, the al-Qaida terrorist network has warned that Japanese nationals would be targets of attack if Japan sends troops to Iraq," media reports said.

The Japanese government has indicated that it plans to send about 550 ground troops to southern Iraq early next year to take part in the US-led reconstruction work.

Meanwhile, seven Spanish intelligence agents were killed and an eighth injured Saturday evening in an ambush south of Baghdad, Kyodo News quoted the Spanish Defense Ministry.

The Spanish agents were ambushed by attackers who deployed rocket-propelled grenades and rifles on a highway near the Iraqi capital, Kyodo said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2003)