The escalating violence in Iraq has forced the government to once again step back from its on-again, off-again schedule for an SDF mission to the country.

As it now stands, Self-Defense Forces units will not be sent to Iraq by year's end, as planned.

"Unfortunately, the situation is not such that our SDF units can work in a sufficiently (safe environment)," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters Thursday morning.

The comment was a reversal of remarks Fukuda made Wednesday that the dispatch would go ahead by year's end.

A deadly bomb attack was carried out late Wednesday on an Italian military police base in the southern town of Nasiriyah.

"We would like to start our humanitarian and reconstruction assistance as soon as possible," Fukuda said, "but we now need to consider changes in (the security) situation before deciding on the timing."

On Wednesday, the top government spokesman said the government has "a firm idea about dispatching (troops) by the end of the year."

The Nasiriyah suicide bombing, which killed at least 26 people, came hours later.

Despite the frequency of bombings in northern Iraq, the southern part of the country, where the Ground Self-

Defense Force contingent was to be sent, had been considered relatively safe. Nasiriyah is about 100 km east of the city of Samawa, where the GSDF unit would probably be stationed.

The special law on Iraqi reconstruction enacted in late July stipulates that the SDF units can only operate in "noncombat areas." The stipulation was made to avoid situations where Japanese troops would have to use force, a sensitive issue with regard to the Constitution, which renounces the use of force as a means to resolve disputes.

The attack on the Italian base sent shock waves through the government because it happened in the South and because foreign troops other than the U.S.-British occupation forces were targeted.

"We need to fully analyze whether the latest attack had specifically targeted (the victims)," Fukuda said. "We need to be very careful and take into account various factors in deciding what kind of reconstruction assistance we can offer."

The government has already decided to postpone Cabinet approval of a basic plan on the Iraq deployment until after the special Diet session, slated to open next week.

It would take at least a month from the time the plan gains Cabinet approval until the troops are actually dispatched, during which the Defense Agency would send its coordination team to Iraq and work out the units' specific activities.

The government's stance has seesawed over the last few months: After the U.N.'s local office in Baghdad was attacked last summer, it decided an SDF dispatch this year would be difficult. Tokyo then changed its stance after Washington pressed Japan to send the troops by the end of the year. Now it is once again hesitating.

Asked what the government would tell U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who arrives Friday in Japan for a three-day visit, Fukuda said: "We will consider (the dispatch) by carefully watching the situation. We can't do what we can't do."