'Triangle of death' handed over to Iraqis
Iraqi forces take over control of another province
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Thursday, 23, Oct 2008 12:22
Coalition forces handed over the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to local control today, in a move which transfers an area once known as the 'triangle of death' for its high levels of sectarian violence.
Babil province, to the immediate south of Baghdad, had averaged 20 attacks per week at the height of the insurgency and Sunni-Shia conflict.
The recruitment of local militias as part of the US-led 'awakening councils' movement ended the country's slide into anarchy, however, and violence levels have dropped by 80 per cent since then.
As a result coalition forces are moving ahead with their plan to hand over power to all remaining provinces as soon as possible.
Iraq's national security advisor Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told the AFP news agency: "I want to declare from Babil that Iraq will take over Wasit [province] in the next few days and we hope to complete the transfer of the remaining provinces in the near future.
"Today the security forces of Babil are self-reliant and we are proud to take over Babil from US forces."
US president George Bush's much-criticised troop surge of 2007 is now widely credited with having brought the situation in Iraq under control, but the country remains unstable with security an ongoing concern in many areas.
This was underlined today by a suicide car bomber today in Baghdad which killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 20, the Associated Press news agency reported.