TOKYO - JAPAN withdrew one of three planes involved in airlift operations to Iraq on Monday, as it neared the close of its nearly five-year noncombat mission in the region, the Defence Ministry said.

An Air Self-Defense Forces C-130H cargo plane left the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the other two will leave later this month, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity citing department policy.

The Japanese army deployed a 600-strong force to southern Iraq in early 2004 on a humanitarian mission. When those troops were withdrawn in 2006, the air force began in earnest its operations airlifting equipment and troops in support of the US-led campaign in Iraq.

Last month the government announced its Iraq operations would be finished before the end of the year, citing improved security and moves toward democracy in the region.

The cargo plane will return to Komaki Air Base in central Japan on Friday, and a separate transport aircraft carrying some of the 210 Japanese troops based in Kuwait will depart on Saturday, the official said. He did not disclose how many troops were returning in the first batch.

Japan last week passed a law allowing it to continue its anti-terrorism navy mission in the Indian Ocean. The refueling operation, which began in 2001 to support US-led forces in Afghanistan, was supposed to expire next month.

The Iraq and Afghanistan missions have divided public opinion in Japan, where critics oppose them as a violation of the US-drafted pacifist constitution that bans the country from engaging in warfare. -- AP