Iraq PM announces first coalition troop pullback

BAGHDAD: Coalition troops are to quit the southern Iraqi province of Muthanna next month, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced on Monday, in the first such handover to the fledgling Iraqi security forces.

"We have a plan to transfer security from coalition troops to local forces and the first governorate where it will take place is the province of Al-Muthanna next month," Maliki told reporters.

Based on the city of Samawa, the province is patrolled by Australian troops under British command.

Some 600 Japanese service personnel are also deployed in the province on Tokyo's first military mission in a country where hostilities are under way since World War II.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said on Sunday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would probably announce the pullout of the Japanese troops before a meeting with US President George W Bush later this month.

Japan pledged to keep supporting Iraq after its historic troop mission ends, offering loans to build bridges and roads in Samawa.

Koizumi said "Japan will continue considering and carrying out what it can do for the stability of Iraq".

British-led troops are to continue patrolling the southern provinces of Maysan and Basra.