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Thailand has started to withdraw its military unit from Iraq just short of its one-year commitment, a spokesman said on Tuesday. The last of the 443 Thai soldiers, originally scheduled to return to Thailand by Sept. 20, will be out of Iraq by the end of August, Gen. Pisanu Urailert said.
But military spokesman Maj. Gen. Palangoon Klaharn said the move did not amount to an early pull-out. "This is not regarded as moving out early, but a step-by-step process," he said, adding that the Thai troops would remain in the Middle East in the intervening weeks. Klaharn said about 20 soldiers had already moved to Camp Virginia in neighboring Kuwait along with some of the unit’s equipment.
The troops, part of a Polish-led multinational force, were dispatched last September for a one-year mission to perform only humanitarian tasks. They sent medical teams into the surrounding community and helped construct roads and buildings during their assignment in Iraq. Two Thai soldiers were killed during an insurgent attack last December at Camp Lima, about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.