U.S., Iraq to discuss deadline exceptions

BAGHDAD, April 27 (UPI) -- U.S. and Iraqi leaders will begin negotiating potential exceptions to the June 30 deadline for U.S. combat troops to leave Iraqi cities, officials said.

Military officials said the talks were expected to concentrate on violence-prone Mosul in northern Iraq, and some parts of Baghdad, The New York Times reported Monday.

"Mosul is the one area where you may see U.S. combat forces operating in the city" after June 30, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. David Perkins, the top U.S military spokesman in Iraq, said in an interview.

The U.S.-Iraqi talks were to begin Monday.

Elsewhere, the withdrawal of United States combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns is on schedule to meet the June 30 deadline, Perkins said. However, the level of insurgent activity in Mosul has prompted U.S. and Iraqi military officials to consider whether the city should be an exception to the deadline in the status of forces agreement the two countries reached late last year.

In Baghdad, there are no plans to close Camp Victory or Forward Operating Base Falcon, officials told the Times. In addition, combat troops with the Army's 7th Field Artillery Regiment will remain at Camp Prosperity, located near the U.S. Embassy compound in the Green Zone.