Roughly 200 US Marines stationed on the southern Japan island of Okinawa have been deployed to Pakistan to help with recovery following the devastating earthquake that struck northern Pakistan a month ago, a spokesman said on Friday. The Marines flew out of Kadena Air Base on Okinawa aboard a commercial airliner late on Thursday, said 2nd Lt Clinton Gebke, a spokesman for the 3rd Marines Expeditionary Unit. The length of their humanitarian mission had not yet been determined. Gebke said the troops would be primarily tasked with medical assistance, and would take a surgical group and mobile laboratory with them. They would have beds for up to 90 patients, he said.
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