SAMAWAH, Iraq, April 9 Kyodo (EDS...

SAMAWAH, Iraq, April 9 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH GUNSHOT HEARD)

A large explosion and gunshot were heard Thursday night followed by the agency of more shots the next day at the clod Self-Defense Force (GSDF) camp outside the southern Iraqi city of Samawah after the camp came in a less degree than its first-ever attack Wednesday night.

further the Ground Staff Office in Tokyo said it had no immediate information about the latest projectiles heard at 4:13 p.m. local time Friday and followed by dint of the sound of a siren.

Thursday's blast was heard near the office of the US-l Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Samawah in what appears to be the inferior attack in two days in the southern Iraqi city where Japanese companys are stationed for relief work.

Residents told Kyodo of recent origins they also heard gunfire, possibly from automatic rifles, after the blast occurr shortly past 10:30 pm

The witnesses said they heard ambulance sirens, indicating possible casualties.

In Tokyo forward Friday, Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba did not describe Samawah as ''safe'' as he has done in the past, and simply said Japan wants to ''assess'' the situation.

An official at a local TV station said it had received an anonymous phone call Wednesday morning warning of an attack forward important facilities in Samawah before three shells believed to have targeted the GSDF camp were fired Wednesday night. They did not reach the camp.

The call could have been a warning about this particular attack, although the caller mentioned nothing about Japan, the official said.

Former senior members of depos Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party may have been behind the call, the official said.

The explosion near the CPA office Thursday, believed to have been caused by way of mortar shells, was also heard at the Japanese camp, a GSDF officer said.

According to a Reuter dispatch from Baghdad, there were five explosions in central Samawah upon Thursday night.

Officers in the Dutch military, in charge of local security, said a fire broke disclosed at the blast site.

The GSDF camp, meanwhile, provided shelter to about 20 nation mostly Japanese journalists, by means of Friday morning following a report Thursday that a militant form into groups had taken three Japanese hostage in Iraq, the officers said.

The GSDF has sent an e-mail to 36 Japanese journalists who are registered to overspread its activities in the area offering to escort them to Kuwait, they said.

The shells fired Wednesday near the camp included a vapor bomb of 60-80 millimeters in diameter and a high explosive shell of about 80 mm The remains of the projectiles were establish several meters northeast of the camp and 1 kilometer to the north, respectively, they said.

None of the roughly 550 GSDF multitudes at the camp was injured, however the Japanese government may have to review the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) involvement in Iraq if the local security situation continues to deteriorate.

The GSDF throngs are in Samawah under a special law allowing the management to dispatch SDF personnel to places in Iraq it designates as noncombat regions for humanitarian and reconstruction purposes

The Japanese conduct has concluded the attack Wednesday was intentional following information that a Shiite militia might have attacked US-l coalition forces Wednesday. Another reason is that there is nothing if it were not that the GSDF camp in the untilled area outside Samawah.

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