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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Africa Europe Latin America Middle East North America Search Search: U.S. to cut Iraq troop strength by 12,000 Reuters - 1 hour 47 minutes ago By Tim Cocks ADVERTISEMENT BAGHDAD - The United States will reduce the number of troops in Iraq by around 12,000 in the next six months, the U.S. military said on Sunday, a step in President Barack Obama's plan to end combat operations in August 2010. Hours earlier, a suicide bomber killed 28 people as recruits gathered at a Baghdad police academy, the first large-scale attack in the capital in almost a month. "Two brigade combat teams who were scheduled to redeploy in the next six months, along with enabling forces such as logistics, engineers and intelligence, will not be replaced," the U.S. military said in a statement. Reducing the number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 14 to 12 will cut the number of American troops by 12,000 from around 140,000 now, said Major-General David Perkins, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq. Six years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, Obama plans to pull all combat troops out of Iraq by August 31, 2010, leaving 35,000 to 50,000 support and training troops as Washington shifts its military focus to Afghanistan. Last month, Obama ordered 17,000 extra troops to Afghanistan to tackle the troublesome insurgency there and fulfil his campaign promises to wind down the unpopular war in Iraq. Under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact negotiated by former President George W. Bush that took effect on January 1, the United States must withdraw all its troops from Iraq by end-2011. Perkins told a news conference that 4,000 troops from Britain, Bush's chief ally in the 2003 invasion, would also leave Iraq in the coming months. The sectarian and insurgent violence that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,500 foreign troops since 2003 has fallen off sharply. Perkins said violence was currently at its lowest level since around August 2003 and Iraq was in a "stable situation." Yet Iraq remains a dangerous place and insurgents still stage regular attacks in places like the northern city of Mosul, seen as a last urban stronghold for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda. STUBBORN VIOLENCE "What happened today will not undermine overall security improvements," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said. General Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, has advocated a cautious approach to removing troops from a country that many fear easily could tip back into rampant bloodshed. Perkins said the military would re-examine its allocation of troops as the overall force dwindles. "We will reposition assets through the country ... based on the threat level," he said. "We are by no means complacent. We know that al Qaeda, although greatly reduced in capability and numbers, still is desperate to maintain relevance here in Iraq," he said. The violence raises doubts about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take charge months before better equipped and trained U.S. combat forces are due to withdraw from Iraqi cities. Perkins said U.S. troops would still conduct operations in cities after that if the Iraqi government asked them to. U.S. forces across Iraq are increasingly focused on training local forces, whose ranks have swelled by hundreds of thousands since U.S. officials disbanded Saddam's old army in 2003. "The Iraqi government feels that the capability is now there to fill any vacuum left by the American troops," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a meeting of Iraqi TV editors, adding that the defence ministry was negotiating several contracts to buy weapons for the police and army. He did not elaborate. Persistent threats to Iraq's stability include deep divisions over power and resources between Maliki and rivals. Such rifts could worsen as Iraq gears up for national polls in December -- especially between Maliki and minority Kurds, who want greater leverage for their semi-autonomous northern region. U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates has suggested the United States should be prepared to maintain a "modest" military presence to help Iraqi forces beyond 2011 if Iraq requests it. But Dabbagh, speaking alongside U.S. officials on Sunday, appeared to rule it out. "The Iraqi government has no intention to accept the presence of foreign troops after 2011," he said. 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