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July 14, 2007

Iraqi PM: Iraqi Troops Ready to Take Over Security
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1824CCD:A6F02AD83191E1606309154991764B729574F7DCC14957C0 But Nouri al-Maliki
adds that Iraqi forces still need more training and equipment





Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki gestures as he speaks during a
press conference in Baghdad, 14 July 2007Iraq's prime minister
Saturday said Iraqi forces are ready to provide full security in the
nation whenever U.S. troops leave.

Nouri al-Maliki told reporters that Iraq's troops can assume complete
responsibility for security at any time.

But Mr. Maliki added that Iraqi forces still need more training and
equipment.

Earlier this week, a U.S. government report on the war said that Iraq
has achieved limited military and political progress.

Separately Saturday, the U.S. military in Iraq said troops discovered
46 rocket launchers aimed at a U.S. army base south of Baghdad on
Thursday.

The statement says 34 of the launchers were armed with Iranian
rockets.

Reuters news agency Saturday said an Iraqi translator they employed
was killed along with his two brothers in Baghdad on Wednesday. The
agency says it appears to have been a sectarian killing.

Reuters says the translator is survived by two young daughters and a
wife.

Also Saturday, the U.S. military said troops killed six terrorists and
detained 18 suspects during operations in central and northern Iraq.

The military says troops engaged a group of armed men using women and
children as human shields in Diyala province. It says troops called in
an airstrike that killed six of the terrorists after the civilians
were released.

In Mosul, the military says a man believed to be a senior leader of
al-Qaida in Iraq surrendered during a raid. Coalition forces also
detained the suspected leader of a car bomb network southeast of
Baghdad.

Separately, Iraqi police say gunmen stormed a house south of Baghdad
and killed eight members of the family that lived there.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.


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