Italy To Pull Out of Iraq, After Jan. Elections

[Annie]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1212045.htm

Italy flags troop pullout after Iraqi election. 03/10/2004. ABC News Online

[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1212045.htm]


Last Update: Sunday, October 3, 2004. 8:00am (AEST)

Italian soldiers on guard in Nassiriya. (Reuters)

Italy flags troop pullout after Iraqi election
Foreign troops would no longer be necessary in Iraq once elections had been held, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini has said.

"Once an Iraqi government has been formed, one that represents all Iraqis, the presence of foreign forces will no longer be necessary," Mr Fini said at a joint news conference with Arab League leader Amr Mussa.

Italy, which has 3,000 soldiers and police serving in Iraq, has refused the demands of hostage-takers to immediately pull out its troops, saying they would stay through elections.

Elections in Iraq are slated for January, but there has been growing concern that the continuing violence could disrupt or delay the vote.

The US military has vowed to wrest all rebel-held areas from insurgents before the end of the year so elections can be held in January.

US-led forces backed by warplanes have tightened their grip on the rebel stronghold of Samarra, saying they had killed 125 rebels in one of the largest offensives in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

War planes have also bombed a building on the outskirts of the rebel-held Iraqi town of Fallujah, targeting what the US military says are 15 to 20 insurgents suspected of links to Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

-- AFP/Reuters