U.S.-led coalition forces handed over the security responsibility of the holy Shiite province of Karbala to Iraqis on Monday.
In a televised celebration held in a sport stadium in the city,110 km south of Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Malikihailed the handover process and promised that the security of Basra, another southern province would also be handed over to Iraqis by the end of the year.
"This event means a great development and quick paces toward taking over all the security dossier from the coalition forces," Maliki told the audience during the celebration.
"Today is Karbala and in mid December there will be Basra, and so on. Our march will carry on escalating by the determination of our armed and security forces," he said.
Maliki admitted in his speech that his government was "verylate" in rebuilding its own security forces to take over control of the war-torn country from U.S.-led troops.
"We were very late in rebuilding our own security forces for reasons I don't want to mention here, but we have to bypass all the reasons behind that to accelerate reconstructing our military capabilities," he added.
Despite the delay in rebuilding forces, Maliki praised the Iraqi armed forces, saying that "they have accomplished achievements that nobody expected them to do despite all challenges that face Iraq."
Karbala is the eighth of Iraq's 18 provinces which has been transferred to Iraqi control. Under the terms of the handover, U.S. forces will move out the city, only offer its troops in case of emergency and if asked by the governor.
Karbala province is relatively peaceful compared to some other central and western regions of Iraq, but in August, the province witnessed chaos and violence among conflicting Shiite factions that claimed the lives of dozens of Shiite pilgrims during the anniversary of the birth of Imam al-Mahdi, the last of the 12 most revered Shiite Imams.
The province is home to the shrines of two of Shiite Islam's most revered Imams, Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.
The other Iraqi provinces handed over by U.S. forces to date are Maysan, Muthanna, Dhi Qar and Najaf in the central and southern Iraq, along the three northern Kurdish provinces of Arbil, Duhuk and Sulaimaniyah.
Source: Xinhua
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