A truck hauling a mobile home that was to be used by the Ground Self-Defense Force advance team in Iraq came under attack Sunday in the town of Ramadi, some 100 km west of Baghdad, and the Jordanian driver of the vehicle was killed, the Defense Agency announced Monday.

The truck was transporting one of two agency-leased containerized housing units from Egypt for use by the GSDF advance unit stationed at the headquarters of the U.S-led coalition forces in Baghdad, according to the agency.

The mobile units were procured in Egypt through a Tokyo-based trading company, Yamada Corp., the agency said.

The other mobile home arrived safely in Baghdad Sunday morning.

Vice defense minister Takemasa Moriya told reporters that details of the attack, including the exact time and who carried it out, remain unknown.

However, he denied that the attack was aimed at the Japanese team, because the trailer did not bear any Japanese markings.

Suspects to be freed

SAMAWAH, Iraq (Kyodo) Local security authorities will release five members of a paramilitary group who Japanese media had reported were detained for planning an attack on newly arrived Japanese troops, an official from the authorities said Sunday.

The authorities had never suspected the five were planning to attack Ground Self-Defense Force members and an investigation following their detention found they are not tied to any other crimes, the official said.

Iraqi police detained the five in the city of Samawah on Jan. 19, the same day an advance GSDF team arrived there.