Troops ‘could quit Iraq early 2007’

BAGHDAD – US-led coalition forces plan to quit Iraq in early 2007, media reports said yesterday, as at least four people were killed in bombings and clashes in the strife-torn country.

Three men guarding a Sunni mosque in Baghdad were shot dead overnight when gunmen dressed in police uniforms attacked the building, an interior ministry official said, with six more guards wounded in the ensuing firefight. News of the unrest, including an Iraqi soldier killed in a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint in Mahmudiya, south of the capital, came amid persistent reports that foreign troops would soon leave the country.Two British newspapers, the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Mirror, quoting unnamed senior British Army sources, said the coalition intended to reduce its presence on the ground over the next 12 months, while withdrawing forces into bases, and then pull out all remaining troops simultaneously.Washington and London believe that maintaining their military presence is counter-productive as foreign forces are increasingly viewed as occupation troops, even though they remain at the Iraqi government’s request, the papers said.But a US military spokesman in Baghdad Sunday dismissed the report.”The news report on a withdrawal of forces within a set timeframe is completely false,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson.US-led forces, which invaded Iraq in 2003, currently number about 157 000, of which 136 000 are from the United States and 21 000 from 26 other coalition countries.- Nampa-APNews of the unrest, including an Iraqi soldier killed in a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint in Mahmudiya, south of the capital, came amid persistent reports that foreign troops would soon leave the country.Two British newspapers, the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Mirror, quoting unnamed senior British Army sources, said the coalition intended to reduce its presence on the ground over the next 12 months, while withdrawing forces into bases, and then pull out all remaining troops simultaneously.Washington and London believe that maintaining their military presence is counter-productive as foreign forces are increasingly viewed as occupation troops, even though they remain at the Iraqi government’s request, the papers said.But a US military spokesman in Baghdad Sunday dismissed the report.”The news report on a withdrawal of forces within a set timeframe is completely false,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson.US-led forces, which invaded Iraq in 2003, currently number about 157 000, of which 136 000 are from the United States and 21 000 from 26 other coalition countries.- Nampa-AP