Iraqi Security Forces

BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces assumed formal control of Baghdad and other cities today after American troops handed over security in urban areas in a defining step toward ending the US combat role in Iraq. A countdown clock broadcast on Iraqi TV ticked to zero as the midnight deadline passed for US combat troops to finish their pullback to bases outside cities. “The withdrawal of American troops is completed now from all cities after everything they sacrificed for the sake of security,’’ said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The White House is condemning the wave of deadly bombings in Iraq, and says such attempts to derail progress in the country will fail. In a statement, press secretary Jay Carney says Iraqi security forces have shown they are up to the task of responding to the bombings. The attacks killed at least 69 people across Baghdad Thursday, just days after the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. Carney says the attacks, which bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida's Sunni insurgents, serve no agenda "other than murder and hatred.

WASHINGTON — It would take a complete failure of the Iraqi security forces for the United States to resume combat operations there, the top American commander in Iraq said as the final US fighting forces prepared to leave the country. With a major military milestone in sight, General Ray Odierno said in interviews broadcast yesterday that any resumption of combat duties by American forces is unlikely. “We don’t see that happening,’’ Odierno said. Iraqi security forces have been doing “so well for so long now that we really believe we’re beyond that point.’’ ...

BAGHDAD - Five bomb attacks struck Shi'ite pilgrims yesterday during an important religious ritual for the Muslim sect, killing 21 people and wounding nearly 100 others, showing the security challenges that still beset Iraq as the US military leaves the country. Shi'ite religious holidays such as the mourning period known as Ashoura are targeted every year by Sunni extremists and have become especially difficult tests for the US-trained Iraqi security forces, still struggling to protect their citizens.

WASHINGTON -- A substantive reduction in the number of US forces in Iraq won't likely be seen until sometime between 2006 and 2008, a top Army general said yesterday. The talk of a general timetable for withdrawal stems from improvements in Iraqi security forces and successes against the insurgency, General Richard A. Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, told reporters. He said he could not be more specific. Cody said any reduction in forces would be planned for in the later months of the rotation of soldiers and large units, and will be staggered between 2006 and 2008.

BAGHDAD - Five bomb attacks struck Shi'ite pilgrims yesterday during an important religious ritual for the Muslim sect, killing 21 people and wounding nearly 100 others, showing the security challenges that still beset Iraq as the US military leaves the country. Shi'ite religious holidays such as the mourning period known as Ashoura are targeted every year by Sunni extremists and have become especially difficult tests for the US-trained Iraqi security forces, still struggling to protect their citizens.

WASHINGTON -- There has been encouraging progress toward stabilizing Iraq, even while insurgents and foreign fighters "remain effective, adaptable, and intent on carrying out attacks," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday. Rumsfeld previewed a comprehensive Iraq report to Congress that was due July 11, the first in a series of required periodic assessments. Lawmakers have been pressing the Pentagon to provide more specific data to measure progress. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, accused the Pentagon last week of delaying the report.

BAGHDAD -- Some of the past problems with Iraqi troops may have been the result of giving them too much responsibility too soon, the US commanding general in Iraq said yesterday, insisting that the United States will only hand over security duties once the Iraqis prove they are ready. There is a system for evaluating Iraqi security forces, and the handover process will not be rushed, General George W. Casey Jr. told the Associated Press. "That really conditioned us to put in place systems over the last year to ensure that we put them in charge when they're ready,...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's government warned yesterday that more violence is likely as Iraqi security forces gear up for the withdrawal of US forces from urban areas by the end of this month. Several high-profile bombings have eroded public faith in Iraqi security forces as the Americans face a June 30 deadline to pull back to bases outside the cities. A car bomb exploded near the mainly Shiite city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday, and hospital officials raised the death toll to 35. Nouri al-Maliki called the blast a "political message" and said it was part of a Sunni insurgent campaign to...

BAQOUBA, Iraq -- The US commander of a new offensive north of Baghdad, reclaiming insurgent territory day by day, said yesterday his Iraqi partners might be too weak to hold onto the gains. The Iraqi military does not have enough ammunition, said Brigadier General Mick Bednarek: "They're not quite up to the job yet. " His counterpart south of Baghdad seemed to agree, saying US troops are too few to garrison the districts newly rid of insurgents. "It can't be coalition forces.

BAGHDAD - The top US general in Iraq predicted yesterday a level of upheaval in the country as militant groups jostle to fill the vacuum left behind by the withdrawal of all American forces in the coming weeks. General Lloyd Austin said the threat from the Sunni extremist organization, Al Qaeda in Iraq, could grow at the same time that Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias are also seeking to assert themselves. "There's likely to be setbacks, some tough times in the days ahead," he told journalists at a briefing at the US embassy in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - A string of explosions targeting security officials and people who rushed to the scene to help the injured killed at least 10 people in western Baghdad last night, officials said. The first explosion came from a roadside bomb in a Shi'ite neighborhood, targeting an Iraqi army patrol, a police official said. Minutes later, a second bomb exploded nearby, targeting a passing police patrol. As firefighters arrived on the scene of the first blast, the third bomb went off. Officials said 19 people were wounded in the attacks.

BAGHDAD - Iraq has signed an estimated $3 billion deal to buy 18 fighter jets from the United States, officials said yesterday, in a measure aimed at protecting its air space alone, after years of relying on help from American pilots. The F-16s aren't expected to arrive in Iraq until next fall at the earliest, and probably not until 2013, meaning US troops may still be asked to patrol the country's skies and train its air force for months, if not years, to come. But US Army Lieutenant General Michael Ferriter called the F-16 deal "a game-changing capability.

BAGHDAD - Under increased US pressure, an Iraqi crackdown on Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias has helped produce a previously elusive goal: For the first time since the US invasion of Iraq, an entire month has passed without a single US service member dying. The milestone is particularly remarkable because it comes after 14 troops were killed in July, making it the most deadly month for the Americans in three years; and it has occurred amid a frightening campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations from Sunni insurgents that killed hundreds of Iraqis,...

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber driving an explosives-packed vehicle rammed his way into a barricaded police compound yesterday, killed 20 police officers, and wounded 40 others in the second major deadly blast in Iraq this week. Iraqi officials have been scrambling to show they are in control of security in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death on Monday, but the uptick of bombings suggests that Al Qaeda-linked groups in Iraq remain a threat despite the death of their ideological patron.

WASHINGTON — It would take a complete failure of the Iraqi security forces for the United States to resume combat operations there, the top American commander in Iraq said as the final US fighting forces prepared to leave the country. With a major military milestone in sight, General Ray Odierno said in interviews broadcast yesterday that any resumption of combat duties by American forces is unlikely. “We don’t see that happening,’’ Odierno said. Iraqi security forces have been doing “so well for so long now that we really believe we’re beyond that...

WASHINGTON -- More than a third of Iraq's national police battalion commanders are now Sunni after a purge of Shi'ites who had a sectarian bias, a US general said yesterday. Despite improvements, he predicted it will still be years before Iraqi forces are capable of securing the country by themselves. Speaking to Pentagon reporters from Iraq, Army Brigadier Genertal Dana Pittard said he had been saddened to see the destruction in one province where the number of US forces had been reduced too soon.