Japan is analyzing Thursday's mortar attack in Samawah, southern Iraq, where its Ground Self-Defense Force troops are being deployed, but the incident will not affect its humanitarian mission there, government officials said Friday.

"If that was really a terrorist attack, that means a terrorist attack could occur in Samawah, too," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters Friday morning, adding that the government takes the development seriously. "There are no defensive ways to guard against something that falls from the air."

Meanwhile, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba stressed that GSDF troops would continue their activities there.