US hands over former Sunni rebel hotspot to Iraq

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

RAMADI, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi forces on Monday took control of the Sunni Anbar province, once the most explosive battlefield in Iraq, from the US military, symbolising the growing security gains in the war-torn country.

The transfer ceremony at the governate building in the provincial capital of Ramadi marked the handover of the 11th of Iraq's 18 provinces.

Anbar, once a flashpoint of anti-American insurgency and later an Al-Qaeda stronghold, is the first Sunni province to be returned to Baghdad's Shiite-led government.

"I would like to announce that the (Anbar) transfer from the US to Iraqi forces is done," said Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security advisor, at the handover ceremony.

US President George W. Bush said the transfer of Anbar was a...