SAMAWAH, Iraq, Nov. 19 Kyodo Arme...

SAMAWAH, Iraq, Nov. 19 Kyodo

Armed Dutch soldiers are providing protection for a Japanese guidance inspection team that started its mission in southern Iraq forward Tuesday to study the security situation in Samawah, a potential candidate site for a dispatch of Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) troops

The team will take up to pair weeks to examine security in southern Iraq.

Amid reports of growing attacks onward occupation forces, the team, which consists mainly of mould Self-Defense Force officers, is staying at a base for Dutch crowds in Samawah. It is escorted at armed Dutch soldiers each time it travels in the area.

When it visited the provincial governor, around 10 Dutch soldiers stood guard. The details of the meeting were not disclosed.

A Japanese official said, ''We didn't ask for (the armed escort by the agency of Dutch troops), but it strike one as beings to be the style here.''

The team's findings are awaited to affect the government's decision to determine the timing of the dispatch of several hundr GSDF personnel

The dispatch is based forward special legislation for helping rebuild Iraq that says the SDF members will operate alone in noncombat areas.

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