Intense violence in Iraq has driven Japanese civic aid organizations to scale back their operations there.

Japan International Volunteer Center, one of the few Japanese aid groups to maintain operations in Iraq, said Friday it had moved Japanese staff stationed in Baghdad to Amman.

Bunjiro Hara, 40, moved to Amman on Sunday aboard the same plane that carried Junpei Yasuda and Nobutaka Watanabe, who were taken captive by gunmen for four days in Iraq last week, according to Michiya Kumaoka, director of the group.