Iraq resumes control of Karbala

KARBALA, Iraq, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Security in the Iraqi province of Karbala, south of Baghdad, was officially handed to Iraqi national forces from U.S. military control Monday.

At a ceremony in the city of Karbala, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the U.S. troops in the region, said U.S. troops would remain in the area to back up Iraqi security, CNN reported.

"We are only a phone call away," he said.

The predominantly Shiite Muslim province is the eighth of 18 provinces deemed ready for domestic control, although Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged at the ceremony at a soccer stadium it was slow in coming, a BBC correspondent said.

"Allow me to say that we are late, very late, to reconstruct, to rebuild our forces for reasons that I do not want to mention here," Maliki said.