Iraqi prime minister hails security transfer

BRITISH and Australian forces yesterday handed over security responsibility for the relatively peaceful Muthanna province to Iraqi forces in the first such transfer of an entire province.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the security transfer as an important step toward the goal of full Iraqi responsibility for all 18 provinces by the end of next year.

However, at least 24 people were killed in attacks nationwide, illustrating the security challenge faced by the country.

“It is a great national day that will be registered in the history of Iraq. This step will bring happiness to all Iraqis,” Mr al-Maliki said during a handover ceremony in the provincial capital of Samawah.

“Be sure that the terrorists want to destroy and foil the process of taking over the security issue and to hamper the political process and the national unity government.”

The handover marks a first step towards the prime minister’s plan to prepare Iraqi security forces to assume full responsibility for all of Iraq by the end of next year, paving the way for the eventual withdrawal of all US-led coalition forces.

It came as Britain faces growing calls for troop withdrawals, although London said the troops in Muthanna were being redeployed within the country.

In Samawah, Iraqi forces lined up in formation and led a parade of troops marching in formation past the prime minister and other dignitaries at a stadium in the city, about 370 kilometres south-east of Baghdad.

Local tribal leaders wearing traditional Arab headdresses and robes then approached the tent, waving rifles and chanting “We are ready to die defending this soil”.

The international troops plan to maintain a presence nearby.

That fits in with the overall US strategy of having coalition forces hand over security control for specific regions and redeploy to larger bases — where they can act in a support or reserve role. A final future stage would involve the drawdown of troops from those bases.

Sectarian violence continued to escalate, with a bicycle bomb striking the headquarters of a village council near Baqouba, 56km north-east of Baghdad.

The blast in the village of Abu Saida, which has a slight Shi’ite majority, devastated the 21-member local council’s headquarters. The bodies of four council members were found under the rubble.

A suicide car bomber struck a police patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing five people and wounding two, police said.

Meanwhile, purported Shi’ite militiamen drove onto the streets of the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Ghazaliyah and called on Sunnis to leave the neighbourhood.

Clashes broke out after police arrived on the scene, with one policeman killed and two injured, captain Jamil Hussein said.