Gunmen trade fire with Guards of Japan's Embassy

Gunmen began firing on Wednesday night near the Japanese embassy in Baghdad. The embassy guards got into a firefight with them, after which they fled. The Japanese spokesman at the enemy said it was unclear whether they had been guerrillas intentionally targetting the Japanese embassy, or whether they had simply been thieves. (AFP/al-Zaman). Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi has in the meantime ruled out sending Japanese troops to Iraq in 2003.