For the first time in half a century, the Lower House on Friday overrode the Upper, ramming a bill through the Diet to resume the Maritime Self-Defense Force refueling duty in the Indian Ocean.

With the bill's passage, MSDF vessels, which halted their refueling activities after the previous antiterrorism law expired last Nov. 1, will leave Japan at the end of January, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said.

The flotilla will resume providing fuel and water to multinational naval ships engaged in the U.S.-led counterterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan in February, according to a senior government official.