The US military said Sunday that 12,000 of its troops stationed in Iraq will pull out from Iraq by September end this year.
The pullout of the combat troops comes as the U.S. military is turning over more facilities to the Iraqi troops, Maj. Gen. David Perkins, a U.S. military spokesman said during a joint news conference with Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesman of the Iraqi government.
Perkins said that the U.S. combat power will be reduced from 14 brigades to 12 brigades.
On Friday, U.S. President Barrack Obama announced a plan to withdraw most troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010, leaving about 35,000 to 50,000 of the current total of around 140,000 troops behind.
For his part, Dabbagh confirmed that the U.S. military and the Iraqi government have agreed the cut of 12,000 U.S. troops in the next six months.
Meanwhile, "4,000 British troops will withdraw in July 2009, according to an agreement signed previously between Iraq and United Kingdom," he added.
In December, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that his country would pull out its 4,000 troops by the end of July.
On Jan. 1, the British military handed over control of Basra airport to Iraqis and since then, the British troops are training the Iraqi Army in the city.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2009)