Tegucigalpa, May 12: Honduras has withdrawn nearly half of its troops from Iraq, with 162 soldiers already in neighbouring Kuwait, a defence ministry spokesman said.
In the next few days, the remainder of Honduran troops still in Iraq, some 207 soldiers in all, will join their comrades in Kuwait, Colonel Rafael Moreno said yesterday.
On Sunday, 150 troops from the first group left Iraq, following an advance party of 10. On Monday, two more arrived, the official added.
The withdrawal from Iraq, by land to Kuwait, takes 14 hours from Najaf where the 'Tegucigalpa' base was set up, some 160 kilometres south of Baghdad.
US and Spanish armoured vehicles accompanied the exiting troops, he said.
Early yesterday, in Tokyo, Honduran President Ricardo Maduro announced in an interview that the withdrawal had begun.
"I am pleased to officially announce to the Honduran people that we have begun withdrawing our soldiers from Iraq and that some of them are already in Kuwait," Maduro said.
Honduras and the Dominican Republic decided to pull their troops out of Iraq last month, following Spain's decision to do the same.
The Honduran soldiers and some 300 Dominicans had been attached to the 1,400 troops led by Spain in Najaf.
Bureau Report
