DIWANIYA, IRAQ — Iraq hopes to have control over security across the country by the end of the year, national security advisor Mowaffak Rubaie said Wednesday, as U.S.-led forces handed over responsibility for the southern province of Qadisiya to local authorities.
Rubaie's comments reflect the Iraqi government's growing confidence in its security forces since they carried out a string of operations this year to assert authority over parts of the country that had been in the hands of Sunni Arab and Shiite Muslim militants.
The government is pressing U.S. officials for a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces.
"We will be very joyous when the last foreign soldier leaves Iraq," Rubaie said at a ceremony marking the handoff in Diwaniya, the provincial capital. "And we will tell them thank you for liberating Iraq and for supporting our forces in achieving stability."
The handoff comes at a time when the number of attacks nationwide has dropped to its lowest level since 2004, according to U.S. military statistics. Still, bombings in central and northern Iraq in recent months have underscored the persistent threat posed by insurgents.
A car bomb exploded Wednesday near a crowded market in the northern city of Tall Afar, killing at least 15 people and injuring more than 90, police and the U.S. military said. The military blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq, a mostly homegrown Sunni Arab militant group that U.S. commanders say is foreign-led.
Another car bomb exploded in nearby Mosul, killing two people and injuring eight, police said.
The U.S. military also announced the deaths of two service members: a soldier killed Tuesday by a bomb rigged to a house in Diyala province and a Marine killed in combat Monday in Anbar province. At least 4,121 U.S. troops have been killed since the start of the Iraq war five years ago, according to the independent website icasualties.org.
Qadisiya, a mostly Shiite area south of Baghdad, is the 10th province to revert to government control since U.S.-led forces invaded in 2003. Iraq has 18 provinces.
"We hope that all Iraqi provinces will regain their security files by year's end," Rubaie said. "Security hasn't been better in the last five years in Iraq. The country has escaped the threat of civil war, which is what our enemies were hoping for."
