Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar insisted the "temporary and partial" move was neither an evacuation nor a withdrawal and both he and Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said the staff would return to Iraq. But a foreign ministry spokesman admitted that the heightened level of violence sweeping Iraq in recent days had been a factor in the decision.

"The situation has evidently worsened, above all last week. "It has therefore been thought convenient to reduce to a minimum the civilian Spanish presence," the spokesman told AFP.

Spain has been a key player on the ground in Iraq, where it has 1,250 soldiers serving under Polish command south of Baghdad.

But the pro-war stance of Aznar's conservative government and its decision to send troops drew major public protest and opposition has increased since three Spaniards have been killed since mid-August, even before a wave of attacks on both occupying forces and civilians in recent days.

Following Tuesday's announcement Jesus Caldera, spokesman for the opposition Socialist Party, said withdrawing diplomats was "incompatible" with the continued presence of Spanish troops in Iraq.

Blasting the government for continuing a mission which "it calls humanitarian," Caldera said it was evident that "a war is under way in Iraq."

Palacio told Spanish media in Berlin for a German-Spanish summit that the staff were being pulled out temporarily and revealed that charge d'affaires Eduardo de Quesada would remain in the country's mission in Baghdad for the moment.

Foreign ministry sources said the embassy's first secretary, Pablo Ruperez, would also remain alongside security personnel.

"At this very complicated time we have temporarily withdrawn personnel from Baghdad (but) they will return," Palacio said.

Aznar, with Palacio in Berlin, stressed the temporary nature of the move. "This is not an evacuation, it is a process of consultation," Aznar said after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"We want to assess the situation together with them. You cannot talk of an evacuation or a withdrawal. We want an exchange of views," after which "appropriate decision" on how to proceed would be taken, Aznar told reporters.

Spain, until Tuesday's move, had 14 civilian experts from the defence ministry working alongside the (US-installed) Coalition Provisional Authority headed by American Paul Bremer.

The foreign ministry spokesman said Madrid could not ascertain to what degree Spanish personnel faced any particular threat, given their support for the US-led war on Iraq and the subsequent military occupation which it has joined.

"We are taking into account the general context of insecurity, we are not going to go into those evaluations," the spokesman said.

Palacio said, following a wave of suicide bombings in the Iraqi capital which killed 43 people and wounded more than 216 on Oct. 27, that there were "serious security problems" in Iraq.

She called the attacks, one of whose targets was the International Committee of the Red Cross offices, a "reaction, no more, no less, to the success" of an international donor conference which Spain hosted on Oct. 23 and 24 in Madrid.

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