Source:
ReutersIraq plans to control whole nation by end 2007: Maliki
Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:27am ET
AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq plans to take security control of the whole country from foreign forces by the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday after British forces handed over control of a southern province.
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In a speech delivered on his behalf by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie at a ceremony marking the handover of Maysan province from British forces to Iraqi control, Maliki said three provinces in the autonomous Kurdistan region would follow next.
These would be followed by Kerbala and Wasit provinces, he said.
"Then it will be province by province until we achieve (this transfer) before the end of the year," Maliki said.
In a reminder of Iraq's security woes, a car bomb killed 10 people and wounded up to 15 in central Baghdad, police said. They said the attack took place in the Karrada district, a mostly Shi'ite neighborhood.
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http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-04-18T120013Z_01_PAR340730_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ.xml
FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, April 18
Following are security developments in Iraq as of 1000 GMT on Wednesday:
* denotes new or updated item.
* BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 15 in the predominantly Shi'ite district of Karrada in central Baghdad, police said.
* BAGDHAD - A bomb inside a minibus killed two people and wounded five near al-Shurja in central Baghdad, police said.
* BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded four, including two civilians, near Baghdad, police said.
* TAJI - One insurgent was killed and eight others were detained during two raids near Taji, 20 km north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
* BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers discovered a cache of nitric acid during a raid on a warehouse in eastern Baghdad on April 12, the U.S. military said. The nitric acid, which can used in manufacturing explosives, was stored in 600 five-gallon containers. Three people were detained in the raid.
more:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18184964.htm