US Troops Surge Ends As Violence in Iraq Falls

The American troop surge in Iraq was effectively declared over yesterday, when officials announced that 5,000 soldiers will this week begin pulling out in response to declining violence.

A US military spokesman said the withdrawal of a brigade combat team comes after the fall in attacks across Iraq, improvements in national security forces and courage of citizens in taking on extremists. But General David Petraeus, head of the US forces in Iraq, has urged commanders to guard against complacency and prepare for 'tough days' and 'setbacks' ahead.

The 3rd 'Grey Wolf' Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, will start its withdrawal from Diyala province, east of Baghdad, on Tuesday. It is the first of five brigade combat teams due to leave Iraq without replacement by next summer, reducing troops on the ground by around 30,000 and back to their pre-surge level. The total has stood at 165,000 since the deployment began in earnest in June. The military said that in May this year Diyala suffered 1,051 'significant' acts of violence, including murders, kidnappings and suicide attacks. In October, the number had more than halved to 464 violent acts. By 20 November the total for this month was just over 200.

Colonel David Sutherland, commander of the Grey Wolf Brigade, said: 'Diyala is a very different province from when we assumed control in November last year. The surge enabled the coalition and Iraqi security forces to dominate the terrain and secure the population.'

He said the number of soldiers in Diyala would actually increase in the short term because of the movement of other units within Iraq. The US military claims that all types of attacks in the country have dropped by 55 per cent since June.

Although there are signs of improvement, with refugees coming home, people are still being killed every day. Last Friday Baghdad suffered its deadliest attack in two months when a bomb killed 13 people at a pet market.