C-130s return after Iraq-linked relief operations

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Two C-130 transport planes returned to Japan on Monday after helping to transport relief supplies from Italy to Jordan that were later sent to Iraq.

Air Self-Defense Force personnel return to Komaki Base in Aichi Prefecture after completing a mission in Italy and Jordan.

The aircraft landed at the Air Self-Defense Force's Komaki base in Aichi Prefecture after completing a mission that began in mid-July at the request of the U.N. World Food Program.

"We carried through our duties without a hitch," said Col. Teruhisa Ueda, the ASDF's transport squadron chief who led the C-130 crew.

The government launched the limited relief mission under the law to cooperate in U.N. peacekeeping operations; no Self-Defense Forces member entered Iraq.

But that will change in the near future. The Diet enacted a special law July 26 to allow the SDF to carry out broader relief operations in areas in and around Iraq without U.N. authority.