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More SDF's Iraq logs discovered

Apr 24 (NHK) - Japan's Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera has revealed that another batch of activity logs from Japan's Self-Defense Force mission in Iraq years ago has been found.

Onodera ordered ministry and SDF officials to search for daily logs and similar records related to Japan's past missions overseas.

The order came after the ministry admitted earlier this month that it had discovered activity logs from the Iraq mission, which it had previously said no longer existed.

SDF personnel are supposed to operate only in non-combat zones. However, the unearthed logs, which cover 435 days of the mission, reveal dangerous aspects of their activities.

On Monday, Onodera announced that the latest search dug up 43,000 records related to 21 past missions, including those conducted in Iraq, South Sudan, Cambodia and East Timor.

Among the newly discovered records are 34 days' worth of logs detailing the SDF's daily activities in Iraq.

Ministry officials say part of the latest discovery was made on the same external hard disk drive on which similar records were found in March of last year.

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