Basra stands alone Claudia Sonea

For the first time after the American invasion in 2003, the second largest Iraqi city is without foreign troops and stands alone to front all the terrorist attacks. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said that although the British forces (around 500) have left the base, Basra Palace (around 11 p.m. local time on Sunday) they will still have an over watch role and they can intervene if necessary. According to the statement on his Web site that actually quotes the interview with BBC Radio the troop's number depends on how things will evolve. For the time been the British troops are stationed to the main command center inside the city to the Iraqi Army, says Gen. Mohan al-Fereiji, the commander of Iraqi forces in Basra. Despite the fact that there is no official timetable for the British withdrawal the number is expected to reduce from 5500 to 5000. The date period given by a Ministry of Defense was around autumn, depending on how things are settling and the security of Basra will be handed over to provincial Iraqi control. The public is criticizing the decision saying that the Mahdi Army militia led by Moktada al-Sadr and other Shiite religious militant groups can see it as an easy target. But the British officials say that the problem is criminal bands and not insurgents. Their presence is the one that actually draws the terrorist attacks and the local people agree to this statement. Expecting to see the results both British and Iraqi officials are careful to avoid the things that happened in other cities after the troops left them. Until further solutions are found!stay close and surf for more news!

related story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-basra.html

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

These news are original content from young talents around the world and are selected for you by Chris Cantell.

edited by Tatiana Kucharikova