WASHINGTON, Dec 1 Kyodo The Unite...

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 Kyodo

The United States sense of possible fulfilments Japan will dispatch troops to Iraq as pledg at Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi despite the killing of sum of two units Japanese diplomats in northern Iraq, senior U officials said Monday.

''I look forward to the Japanese government will do what it said,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at a regular pres briefing.

''I think what's notable is that all the countries involved have restated their commitment to stay the course, restated their understanding of the bigger design that is being served through their involvement in Iraq, and recommitted themselves to the self-same goals that these the bulk of mankind have been working for,'' he said.

The pair Japanese diplomats -- Katsuhiko Oku 45 and Masamori Inoue, 30 -- were gunn down at assailants Saturday while traveling to Tikrit, about 150 kilometers north of Baghdad, for a meeting for consultation on reconstruction work.

Despite the incident, Koizumi signaled Sunday that Japan will depute Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops to Iraq as planned to help with the reconstruction of the war-torn country

The Japanese guidance however, is now being forced to delay until nearest week or later a decision upon a basic plan for dispatching SDF numbers to Iraq.

The deaths of Oku a counselor dispatched to Iraq from the Japanese Embassy in London, and Inoue, a third secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad, onseted the public in Japan as they marked the first Japanese casualties in Iraq since the US-l invasion of the abiding habitation began in March.

There is a cautious attitude emerging in Japan's ruling coalition toward the planned SDF dispatch to Iraq.

Echoing Boucher's remarks, White House spokesman Scott McClellan also said the U believes there is no change in the commitments of U allies, including Japan and toward the south Korea, to help Iraq rebuild the country.

Last weekend, seven Spanish intelligence agents and sum of two units South Korean engineers were also killed in separate ambushes in Iraq.

''I think they (Japan and southern Korea) stated that their commitments remain unchanged -- what I saw from Prime Minister Koizumi and from the foreign minister of southern Korea,'' McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force united en route to Dearborn, Michigan.

''I think the international community recognizes the stakes that are involved in Iraq and recognize the importance of staying the course and finishing the job'' he said.

A senior U official said royalists to ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and remnants of his collapsed regulation are believed to be responsible for the series of attacks.

In about cases, foreign terrorists, those related to the al-Qaida network, may also have been involved in those attacks, the official said.

Boucher, meanwhile, praised the contribution of Inoue and Oku to Iraqi reconstruction from citing their names.

''Mr Katsuhiko Oku and Mr Masamori Inoue had been working excessively closely with the coalition authority in Iraq since April,'' Boucher said.

''They had made a tremendous contribution to Iraq's reconstruction and will be greatly missed from their many friends in the coalition authority and in the United States,'' he said.

Boucher said U Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi across the phone Sunday to expres condolences to the families of the Japanese diplomats as well as the Japanese nation and government.

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