US and Iraq ‘very close’ to sealing security pact

US and Iraqi negotiators are “very close” to reaching a long-term security pact that will decide the fate of US troops in Iraq, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari claimed yesterday.

A series of bombings, meanwhile, targeted Iraqi security forces and civilians nationwide, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens, including the commander of Kurdish forces in a town near the Iranian border.

Zebari said the Iraqis were insisting on the inclusion of a “very clear timeline” for the withdrawal of US-led forces, but he refused to disclose any dates being discussed.