Japan announced on Tuesday it would withdraw its 600 ground forces from southern Iraq, marking a successful end to one of Junichiro Koizumi’s most controversial acts of his prime ministership.

In a televised news conference, Mr Koizumi said the deployment, seen as Japanese military’s most ambitious overseas mission since the second world war, had “achieved its mission” of helping rebuild the infrastructure of the Samawah region. He pledged to continue aiding Iraq’s reconstruction.