Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba has ordered Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) troops to withdraw from a refueling mission for U.S. military vessels as the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law expires on Thursday, ministry officials said.

Ishiba issued the withdrawal order at 3 p.m. on Thursday. The troops are set to leave the Indian Ocean for Japan at midnight on Friday.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in a statement that he hopes a new anti-terrorism bill will be enacted as soon as possible to resume the refueling mission. "We will try to have a new anti-terrorism special measures bill passed into law in the hope that we will resume the refueling mission at an early date."

The MSDF had been refueling U.S. military vessels in the Indian Ocean under the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law.

The ruling coalition had attempted to extend the law, but opposition parties that control the House of Councillors voiced opposition to the proposed extension of the law.

The chamber is highly likely to vote down the new bill. In a meeting on Tuesday, the leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Ichiro Ozawa, rejected Fukuda's plea to support the new bill.

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