BP-led group win contract for Iraqi oil field in auction

Four US soldiers have been killed in Iraq as US troops pulled back from the towns and cities following six years of occupation. The four, who died on Monday from combat-related injuries, were members of the Multinational Division Baghdad, the US military said in a statement. US combat troops are withdrawing from Iraqi towns and cities to rural bases this month under a bilateral security pact. They must leave urban centres by midnight on Tuesday under the agreement that also requires all troops to leave the country by 2012. Elsewhere, a car bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk killed at least 25 people and wounded 40 others. The blast struck a busy market in a largely Kurdish part of the city. On Monday, there was jubilation in Baghdad after US troops left and as Iraqi soldiers paraded through the streets in American-made vehicles draped with Iraqi flags and flowers, chanting, dancing and calling the pull-out a "victory". One drove a motorcycle with party streamers on it; another, a Humvee with a garland of plastic roses on the grill. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said 30 bases remain to be handed over. There are still some 130,000 US troops in Iraq. However, US soldiers will remain at two giant bases near Baghdad airport that are defined as non-urban, in case the Iraqis need to draw on their firepower. Addressing military leaders in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said: "Our sovereignty has started and ... we should move forward to build a modern state and enjoy (the) security which has been achieved." Many Iraqis are elated even though they fear militants may use the withdrawal as an opportunity to step up attacks. In recent days, a spate of bombings, including two of the deadliest for more than a year that killed 150 people between them, have raised fears militants will try to step up the pace of attacks. Iraqis believe they have suffered since the allied invasion and complain their lives have improved little since then, with daily struggles caused by power cuts and water shortages. "They did a good job getting rid of that tyrant, Saddam, and we thank them for that, but it's really time for them to leave," said Talib Rasheed, 70, sitting outside in one of Baghdad's leafier suburbs. "Maybe they could leave us some electricity?"

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ITN | June 30, 2009

Tags:. .chanting. .invasion. .suburbs. .complain. .largely