BAGHDAD, April 11 (UPI) -- The growing number of Iraqi security forces and Sons of Iraq contributed to increased levels of security, allowing some U.S. forces to return home.
With more than 60,000 Iraqi army soldiers, 78,000 Iraqi policemen and over 8,700 border patrol officers, the U.S. military said Friday it planned to send soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division back to Fort Riley, Kan.
A U.S. military statement noted a marked increase in the numbers of the Sons of Iraq force active in the northern Iraqi provinces, up 25,000 from 14,500 at the beginning of 2008.
Those numbers contributed to a drop in violence in Iraq of over 60 percent in the past 10 months, the U.S. military said.
The activity of Iraqi forces is evident in the discovery of a weapons cache in Mahmudiyah, about 25 miles south of Baghdad.
A joint Iraqi-U.S. operation uncovered a weapons cache consisting of several large-bore mortar rounds, several rocket-propelled grenades and two Katushya rockets.
| Additional News Stories | |
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (UPI) --
U.S. President Barack Obama emerged as the world's most powerful man in Forbes magazine's assessment of the world's most powerful people released Thursday.
|
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12 (UPI) --
Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean started to walk out on CNN's "Larry King Live" after telling King he was being "inappropriate" but did not leave.
|
NEW YORK, Nov. 12 (UPI) --
Crude oil prices fell Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange to under $79 per barrel, despite the dollar's trend towards weakness.
|
|