The first batch of Chinese soldiers, 515paratroopers, boarded a train and left the quake-stricken Sichuan Province after completing their relief operations on Monday.

The soldiers, who left Chengdu at 9:45 AM, were the first group of a 40,000-strong force due to leave the province.

The troops will leave according to the need for their services, according to the order signed by President Hu Jintao, chairman of China's Central Military Commission.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has sent a work group to Chengdu to coordinate the withdrawal.

The rest of the soldiers will leave by train, bus and plane.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has sent a work group to Chengdu to coordinate the withdrawal, after which more than 80,000 PLA troops and armed police will stay on in the quake zone to help with disaster relief work until further orders arrive.

They will shoulder responsibilities include restoring transportation, providing road maintenance, preventing quake-triggered secondary disasters and clearing debris.

The military will also help relocate quake survivors, prevent diseases and transport relief goods.

The returning troops are expected to resume life in the barracks at an early date after the withdrawal, military sources say.

The government mobilized about 130,000 troops, armed police and reservists to help with relief work after the magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck southwest China on May 12.

As of Thursday, the military and armed police had saved 3,336 survivors, transferred more than 1.4 million people and provided medical treatment for more than 1.19 million injured.

The troops also cleared more than 19.42 million cubic meters of debris, sterilized an area of 1.55 billion square meters and sent 7,474 tons of relief goods to the quake-battered zone.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2008)