Iraqi forces have assumed formal control of the capital, Baghdad, and other cities, six years after US-led coalition forces invaded Iraq.
US troops began withdrawing from the country's major cities and towns as the midnight deadline passed on Tuesday for troops to hand over security to Iraqi forces.
"The withdrawal of American troops is completed now from all cities, after everything they sacrificed for the sake of security," Sadiq Al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said.
Al-Rikabi told the Associated Press news agency on Tuesday that Iraq is "now celebrating the restoration of sovereignty".
Fears of attacks
Iraqi security forces increased checkpoints and banned motorcycles from the streets of Baghdad, amid an increase in violence ahead of the US withdrawal.
Al-Maliki on Monday described the June 30 deadline for the US withdrawal as a "turning point" for the country and he declared Tuesday the country's National Sovereignty Day and a public holiday.
But all police and army leave has been cancelled amid fears of fresh attacks.
"Our expectation is that maybe some criminals will try to continue their attacks," said Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, the interior ministry's operations director and spokesman.
"That is why orders came from the highest level of the prime minister that our forces should be 100 per cent on the ground until further notice."
Motorcycles have been banned indefinitely after they were used last week in three separate attacks, killing more than 100 people.
Airport closed
Iraqi officials have also warned citizens to avoid crowded places.
Despite heightened security, a roadside bomb attack on a US convoy in eastern Baghdad wounded six bystanders a day earlier, police said.
In western Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in the parking area of a police academy in Al-Furat district, killing one police officer and wounding seven policemen.
In Sunday's attacks, fighters were believed to have taken advantage of a major sandstorm that reduced visibility to just a few metres in some parts of Baghdad.
The sandstorm forced Baghdad's airport to close and delayed Iraq's first oil bidding process in more than 30 years as international oil companies and representatives could not land in the capital.
The top US commander in Mosul has warned Iraqi army generals that the time has not yet come for his forces to pull out.
"The most dangerous thing that can happen to you and me is that the insurgents separate us, to put a wedge between us," Colonel Gary Volesky said.
The Iraqi army and government have asked that Volesky's troops remain in Mosul past the scheduled withdrawal date.
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jennifer chen
said:
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Why have they left?-because they have enough mercenaries there to take the place of the soldiers-and they have a new land to conquer=Honduras? Are there oil fields and poppy fields in Honduras-where there are new people to torture and slaughter-Americans are only happy when they harm and destroy what is good-now that Iraq is in a shambles-they need a new place to commit their criminal acts of sadistic destruction that seem to give americans their sense of 'pride & superiority'-and the stupid belief that it will revive their dead economy. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword=soon America will resemble Iraq-after its destruction-you get back all you give=the #1 law of reality-but americans are too insane to comprehend reality-they live in delusion that the evil they do is good-no one is more evil than they except Israel (the antichrist) who americans worship and emulate. |
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Abdul-Kareem
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Compare the victory celebrations at the alleged withdrawal of US troops in Iraq to when the army of the Khilafah opened new lands. Abu Yusuf (ra) in his classical book ‘Kitab Al-Kharaj' gives the following report of the Islamic Conquest of Syria. After getting on peaceful terms with the people of Syria and collecting the dues of the Jizya and the Kharaj, news reached Abu ‘Ubeida that the Byzantines had amassed their troops to attack him. The effect of this was great on Abu ‘Ubeida and the Muslims. He sent messages to the rulers of cities with whose citizens he had made peace, asking them to return to their subjects the paid dues of the Jizya and Kharaj with an instruction to tell them: ‘We hereby return to you the money you have paid us, because of the news of the enemy troops amassed to attack us, but, if God grants us victory against the enemy, we will keep up to the promise and covenant between us.' When this was delivered to the dhimmi and their money returned to them, they told the Muslims: ‘May God bring you back to us and grant you victory over them!' |
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