The Japanese ground troops who had arrived in Kuwait Saturday "left Camp Virginia this morning and are on their way to the Kuwait-Iraq border," Vic Harris, public affairs officer of US troops in the emirate, told AFP.

The 39 ground troops were based at Camp Virginia, a US military camp in the desert some 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of Kuwait City, after arriving here.

Harris said the unit was heading to Iraq in their armored vehicles that were shipped into Kuwait on Sunday.

The shipment included eight armored vehicles, firearms and ammunition.

The 39-strong ground forces unit was the second contingent from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to arrive in Kuwait after an air force unit that came on December 27.

The advance unit will prepare for the deployment of a 600-strong force inside Iraq, launching Japan's most controversial overseas military mission since World War II.

Under the plan, troops will be sent to the southeastern Iraqi province of Muthanna to engage in non-combat operations such as providing medical services and water supplies, restoring war-damaged buildings and transporting material, but not weapons.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged Monday to go ahead with the full deployment of Japanese troops in Iraq, where US and other coalition forces come under almost daily attack by insurgents.

The advance unit is heading to Iraq just one day after a massive suicide truck bombing outside US headquarters in Baghdad killed 25 people and wounded scores.

The Japanese parliament must still formally approve the dispatch of troops announced on December 9.

An opinion poll published Monday showed support for sending Japanese troops to Iraq has risen to 40 percent, while about half the Japanese public remain opposed.

WAR.WIRE