Iraq Takes Over 12th Province From US
By VOA News
23 October 2008
The U.S. military has handed over Iraq's once-violent Babil province to Iraqi security forces, making it the 12th of 18 provinces the U.S. has returned to Iraqi control.
The number two U.S. commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, said at a handover ceremony Thursday that security gains in Babil have been remarkable. He said attacks have declined 80 percent over the past year.
Iraq's National Security Advisor Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said the handover is proof Iraqi security forces in Babil have reached self-sufficiency.
Babil, an area south of Baghdad named for the ancient city Babylon, includes the region once known as the "triangle of death."
The only province left under U.S. control in southern Iraq is Wasit, which borders Iran and has been an alleged conduit for weapons and foreign fighters.
U.S. Major General Michael Oates says the handover of Wasit will occur on October 29.
In other news, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she thinks Baghdad will eventually accept a proposed U.S.-Iraqi agreement that would allow U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for three years. Rice said Iraqi forces are not yet capable of defending the country by themselves.
In violence today, Iraqi officials say a suicide car bomber struck a government convoy in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 21 others.
Officials say the bomber rammed a car into the convoy of Iraq's minister of labor, Mahmoud al-Radhi causing an explosion in central Baghdad. A government spokesman says the minister was not hurt in the attack.
Separately, the U.S. military says coalition forces detained two suspected militants today in central Iraq, west of Baghdad. The military says one of the men is suspected of providing materials and money to regional al-Qaida leaders for bombings against coalition forces.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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