US braces for more troop withdrawals

IRAQ’S multinational peacekeeping force scrambled to regroup yesterday after Spain’s announcement that it would pull out its 1,300 troops, with Albania pledging more soldiers but US officials bracing themselves for more withdrawals.

Poland, which commands the 23-nation force of 9,500 troops in south-central Iraq, said it was taken by surprise by the announcement on Sunday that Spain, the third-largest contributor with 1,300 troops, would be pulling out.

Spanish troops will leave Iraq in less than six weeks, Defence Minister Jose Bono said on Monday in Madrid, but it remains unclear who will take their place. The 9,500 peacekeepers under Polish command are charged with the south-central sector, where followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are waging a bloody rebellion.