AL-MALIKI
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP):
ITALY ANNOUNCED its intention Wednesday to pull out all its troops by the end of the year, an action that further reduces the number of interna-tional troops supporting the United States in Iraq.
Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, made good on a promise and released the first 600 of 2,500 detainees he said he would release from some of Iraq's most notorious prisons.
Al-Maliki has made security and reconciliation among feuding Sunni Arab and Shiites a top priority of his new administration.
"The Italian military presence in Iraq will end by the end of the year," D'Alema said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraqis would be ready to take over responsibility for the southeastern area where the Italians are based.
"This withdrawal will not begin suddenly but it will be gradual," he said during a joint news conference at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. "We have a security plan to transfer the security tasks from the Italian forces to the Iraqi forces starting end of this month."
Italy has 2,700 troops based in Nasiriyah, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and has already said it plans to pull out 1,600 of them this month.
The announcement falls in line with a previous pullout plan by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, but it is the first time that a timetable has been given.
It also makes good on a pledge by Italy's new centre-left government to withdraw the troops. "We have a voters' mandate: The troops are coming back home," D'Alema said.
