9 Mar 2009

US to withdraw 12,000 troops from Iraq

11:00 am on 9 March 2009

The United States military says it will withdraw 12,000 troops from Iraq in the next six months.

The level of violence in Iraq has declined since 2007, but it remains a feature of daily life for many Iraqis.

On Monday, a suicide bomber killed at least 28 people queuing outside a police recruitment centre in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. At least 57 other people were wounded in the attack, carried out by a bomber on a motorcycle.

Two days earlier, at least 12 people died when a car bomb exploded at a cattle market in Babil province.

The announcement is part of a plan by US President Barack Obama to end combat operations in Iraq by August 2010.