Japan, Bulgaria to keep troops despite threat

He was responding to conflicting comments posted on an Islamic website which demanded Japanese troop withdrawal but then later ran a statement calling the earlier message a "lie". Neither of the statements could be verified.

Japan, one of Washington's staunch supporters of the Iraq war, has around 550 troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa providing humanitarian aid.

Yamazaki said Tokyo was aware of the threats but said they were unconfirmed. "We have heard such information but we have not formally received it," he said.

Meanwhile Bulgarian President yesterday rebuffed a purported threat by Al-Qaeda's European branch to carry out terror attacks in his country unless Bulgarian troops leave Iraq.

"We will not give in to the terrorists' pressure," Georgi Parvanov said during a visit to Berlin.

"We will resist. Giving in would encourage further terrorist acts," Parvanov said after a meeting German President Horst Koehler.

Bulgaria has a 480-strong infantry battalion in Iraq.

Parvanov has insisted the soldiers will stay, despite a hostage drama in which militants last week threatened to kill two Bulgarian truck drivers.