Cabinet approval of a plan to dispatch Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq will probably be delayed until next week at the earliest, in the wake of the fatal ambush Saturday of two Japanese diplomats.
The government had considered endorsing the plan at a Cabinet meeting this week.
The government "must pay grave consideration to such an incident" in making a final decision on when to dispatch troops, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday. At the same time, however, he reiterated that Japan will not back down from its plan to send troops to Iraq.