For 1st time since 2003, Baghdad streets free of U.S. troops

June 30, 2009 - 07:17:56
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

For the first time since the U.S.-led war in April 2003, Iraqi urban area are celebrating the withdrawal of U.S. forces from 18 provinces, launching a new phase that many observers refer to as the “post-occupation” Iraq.

On Tuesday (June 30, 2009), which has been declared an official holiday and hailed as “National Sovereignty Day,” more than 750,000 Iraqi forces have been deployed to Iraqi cities, replacing U.S. troops which have withdrawn to their bases outside the cities.

On November 27, 2008, the Iraqi Parliament passed a security pact with the United States, known as the Status-of-Forces Agreement (SOFA), 10 days after the Iraqi cabinet approved it with an overwhelming majority.

In accordance with the agreement, U.S. combat forces today left Iraqi cities and districts within preparations for withdrawal from Iraq by August 2010, to be completed by the end of 2011 commensurate with U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan.
SS (P)

4 MND Soldiers killed in Baghdad

June 30, 2009 - 10:49:24
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

Four Multi-National Division–Baghdad (US) soldiers died on June 29, 2009, as the result of combat related injuries, said a release issued by the Multi National Forces (MNF) in Iraq Tuesday, referring that the soldiers’ names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

“MND-B will not release any additional details prior to notification of next of kin and official release by the DoD,” said the release received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The incident is currently under investigation,” it said.

With the death of those four soldiers, the toll of U.S. army casualties in Iraq during June 2009 moves up to 15, including five servicemen who were killed for reasons said to be non-combat, while the total death toll since the beginning of operations in Iraq in March 2003 now being 4,321.
MH (P)/SR

Car bomb attack casualties in Mosul reach 10

June 29, 2009 - 07:03:20
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

The death toll from the car bomb explosion in the east of Mosul rose to 10, including a child, a police source said on Monday.

“The death toll from the car bomb blast in al-Hamadaniya district in east of Mosul rose on Monday (June 29) rose to 10, including a five-year-old child and a Kurdish security element,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A police source had said earlier that a car crammed with explosives went off inside a garage in al-Hamadaniya district, eastern Mosul, killing six, including five policemen.

“The police found the car bomb and when they approached it to defuse it, the bomb was remotely detonated,” he noted.

Mosul, the capital of Ninewa, is 405 km north of Baghdad.