Washington - The US military believes there will be an
upsurge in violence in Iraq ahead of the planned withdrawal of US
forces from major Iraqi cities at the end of this month.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters Wednesday that
violence in Iraq had typically spiked ahead of key dates such as
elections and predicted the same for the June 30 pullout.
'Our forces have been alerted to the possibility that we will
likely see an uptick in violence leading up to the June 30 deadline
for US combat forces to leave Iraqi cities and towns,' Morrell said.
Iraqis have witnessed two massive bomb attacks recently. At least
62 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in a bombing of a
Baghdad market on Wednesday, and on Saturday 65 people died in a
bombing in Kirkuk.
Under a deal arranged last year between then US president George W
Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, US combat forces are
required to exit Iraqi cities. Morrell said, however, some US forces
will remain in cities to advise Iraqi security forces until they are
self-sufficient.
'We are going to have some complement, albeit in much smaller
numbers, of troops still in some Iraqi cities and towns in an
advisory and assistance role,' Morrell said.
He said that terrorists will look to carry out high-profile
attacks like the bombings this week, but said that overall security
in Iraq was good.
'Despite the fact that you've seen sporadic high-profile attacks
still taking place in Iraq, the overall security climate is a good
one and we remain at all-time lows,' he said.
President Barack Obama has pledged to remove all combat forces
from Iraq by the end of August 2010, about four months sooner than
the deal worked out by Bush and al-Maliki. Thousands of US soldiers,
however, will stay behind to provide logistical support and training
to Iraqi forces.
There are about 130,000 US soldiers still stationed in Iraq. Obama
wants to initiate pullouts and focus US efforts on Afghanistan, where
the security environment has sharply deteriorated in the last two
years.
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