MADRID, May 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The Spanish Defense Ministry said the first group of 234 Spanish soldiers had withdrawn from Iraq and arrived home Sunday morning, as promised by the new Socialist government.

    The group arrived in the southeastern town of Almeria from Kuwait, said a spokeswoman.

    It is to be followed by another group of 240 troops who will arrive at Almeria Sunday night while the last contingent of 217 will return Monday and be greeted by Defense Minister Jose Bono atan air base outside Madrid, she said.

    Bono announced Friday that all Spanish troops had left their Iraqi base in southern Iraq, crossing the border into Kuwait.

    The Spanish troops went under attack last week from Iraqi insurgents in the process of withdrawing, leaving one soldier slightly wounded.

    The spokeswoman said other 150 Spanish personnel sent to Kuwaitto coordinate the withdrawal would remain there to help load equipment for shipping back to Spain. Spanish officials have said the pullout would be completed by the end of May.

    Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who won a surprise election victory in April, ordered on his first day in office the withdrawal of Spanish troops deployed in Iraq.

    He had rejected the charges by some US politicians that the pullout decision was aimed at appeasing the public after the al Qaeda-linked bomb attacks in Madrid killed 191 people on March 11.Enditem