NAVISTAR, Feb 8: Japanese ground troops crossed the Kuwaiti border into Iraq on Sunday, launching a historic first deployment of the Self-Defence Forces to a combat zone since World War II.

"They crossed the border," unit commander Colonel Yasushi Kiyota said at 8:20 am (0520 GMT), speaking in Japanese by telephone to reporters held back some 300 metres (yards) from the frontier.

Kiyota had given the marching orders for a 25-vehicle convoy and some 50 soldiers to go through the desert gateway used by coalition forces to enter Iraq. "Let's do the work that makes history," he told the troops. "Do your work as usual."

Armoured personnel carriers, large and small trucks all carrying stickers of the Japanese flag drove off on a 300-kilometre (180-mile) journey to the southern Iraqi town of Samawa where they will be based.

The Japanese are armed with pistols, 5.56mm Japanese-made automatic rifles and heavy machineguns, in addition to two types of anti-tank weapon, according to Lt Col Shigeru Yamasaki, head of the Task Planning and Liaison Unit. Two US army vehicles mounted with machine guns protected the convoy emblazoned with the words "Japan" in English and Arabic.

At 5.00 am (0200 GMT), just before dawn, the Japanese convoy had moved off from Camp Virginia, a US military outpost some 70 kilometres (40 miles) northwest of Kuwait City.

They headed north some 100 kilometres (60 miles) using highway 80 to Navistar, which is off-limits to civilians, and just a few hundred meters (yards) from the border crossing.

"I wished the troops good luck," Kiyota told reporters before crossing into Iraq. He added that he had spoken by telephone to his family and son before setting off.

But he declined to reveal the exact number of soldiers, believed to be around 50 but eventually swelling to nearly 1,000. Most members of the first contingent of 86 officers and soldiers were to be deployed to Iraq with a handful remaining in Kuwait to receive some 500 more ground troops.

"I am going on a mission," Major Kenji Murakami said. "Samawa appears to be quiet, but I really don't care and I am not afraid. I am excited to go on this mission," he said, standing next to an armoured vehicle.

Security is the main concern for the Japanese men. "I am not happy going out there. But this is a noble and historic mission. It's my honour to get the chance. It was my choice and I was not forced," Major Yoshiyuki Goto said as he waited for orders to enter Iraq. -AFP