Iraq 'to end' US-backed patrols
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US-backed mainly Sunni patrols must be integrated into the security forces, Iraq's defence minister warns.
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BASRA, Iraq  - Britain handed over security on Sunday to Iraqi forces in the last of four provinces it once patrolled, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq.
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Eleven Sunni insurgent groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks &amp;#151; including those on American troops &amp;#151; if the United States agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years, insurgent and government officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
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US troops in the Iraqi province of Karbala are to hand over security to Iraqi forces next week, officials say.
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US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday the number of troops in Iraq could be cut after the January elections in that country.
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The government said Wednesday it would ban travel between provinces and extend the hours of a curfew as part of heightened security before Iraq's weekend elections.
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Britain is to scale back its 8,000-strong military presence in southern Iraq in October, despite fears of worsening security in the run-up to elections, the Observer newspaper reports.
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Iraq's army and police could be ready to take over security in all 18 provinces by the end of this year as the U.S. military moves toward a less prominent role in the country, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
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The Pentagon is to end the contract Halliburton has to service US troops in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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Iraq closed its borders with Iran and Syria as U.S. and Iraqi troops tightened their grip on Baghdad on Thursday, setting up more checkpoints that stopped and searched even official convoys for weapons.
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The BBC is reporting that the United States has stopped their search in Iraq for weapons of mass destruction.
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A proposal now being drafted would limit the role of United States troops in Iraq to counterterrorism efforts.
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Thousands of British soldiers will leave Iraq over the next year, significantly downgrading the country's commitment in the region, the defense secretary said Monday. Poland and Italy also announced the impending withdrawal of their remaining troops.
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The United States has barred diplomatic convoys from leaving Baghdad's heavily fortified "Green Zone" after a shooting involving the Blackwater security firm that drew protests from Iraq and prompted investigations, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
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Britain will reduce its contingent of just over 7,000 troops in Iraq by almost half in May as it hands the main province of Basra over to Iraqi army and security forces, a newspaper reported.
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In April 2003, as the US-led invasion of Iraq was ending, the Pentagon projected in a formal planning effort that the US military occupation of the country would end this month.
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Iraqi and British forces in southern Iraq closed border crossings with Iran on Thursday in an attempt to choke off smuggling networks that Washington says are used to supply militant groups.