Military hands back security to local leaders

BAQOUBA, Iraq – The U.S. military handed security responsibility back to local leaders in the town of Buhriz, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, on Sunday after hammering Sunni Muslim insurgents in three days of clashes that killed 19 militants and one U.S. soldier.

The deal calls for American troops to pull back and for Iraqi police to step in and establish security in the town of 40,000, U.S. military officials said.

Similar arrangements have been reached in Najaf, Fallujah and elsewhere in Iraq where the Americans have stepped aside and allowed Iraqi forces to assume greater security roles after clashes with insurgents.

That could become the pattern across much of the country as the U.S.-run coalition hands over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government June 30.

“Our goal here in 10 days will be the full sovereignty here in Iraq,” said Col. Dana J.H. Pittard, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. “If we cannot trust the police for maintaining control of order, then who can I trust?”

Under the plan, local security forces will conduct patrols and keep insurgents at bay while the Americans will hang back and conduct only sporadic patrols. The Americans reserved the right to return in force should their patrols be fired upon, Pittard said. The deal was struck after hours of talks in the nearby city of Baqouba.

“We have been given guarantees by the chief of police and the local leaders that they will maintain order and we will respect that,” Pittard told reporters at a news conference to announce the deal.

The clashes in Buhriz began Wednesday when insurgents fired on U.S. troops after they had wrapped up a meeting with the mayor to discuss reconstruction projects. Two days of intense fighting that followed killed at least 19 insurgents and one U.S. soldier, Pittard said.

Gen. Walid Abdul-Salaam, chief of police for the Diyala province, said 13 civilians were killed and 34 wounded. Casualty tolls are difficult to determine, as fighters fearing arrest by U.S. authorities often do not take their wounded or dead to local hospitals.

Pittard accused Saddam Hussein’s sympathizers of leading the insurgency in the area.

“The vast majority of the insurgents are the former regime elements,” he said.

But he added that members of the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s network are known to be operating in the area.

Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist with suspected links to al Qaeda, is believed to be operating in Iraq and masterminding a series of car-bomb attacks that have targeted security forces in the weeks before the handover.

The American military launched a strike Sunday against what U.S. officials said was a suspected safehouse for the Jordanian-born militant’s group in the southern city of Fallujah. At least 16 people were killed in the strike.