Iraqi gov't takes control of its armed forces from U.S.-led coalition; 17 dead in bombings

(AP) Coalition forces handed over control of Iraq's armed forces command to the government Thursday, a move that U.S. officials have hailed as a crucial milestone on the country's difficult road to independence.

The prime minister takes control of Iraq's small naval and air forces and the 8th Iraqi Army Division. However, it is still unclear how rapidly the Iraqi forces will be prepared to take over their own security.

"From today forward, the Iraqi military responsibilities will be increasingly conceived and led by Iraqis," said Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, at a ceremony.

However, Iraq's bloodshed continued in the hours before the handover. Six bomb attacks targeting police patrols in Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 50.

Also Thursday, Iraq said it had executed 27 "terrorists" convicted by Iraqi courts of murders and rapes in several provinces. They were hanged in Baghdad on Wednesday, the government's media office said in a brief statement. It did not provide further details.

A senior justice official said all 27 were Iraqis, and two had been convicted of terrorism-related charges. The other 25, including one woman, were convicted of murder and kidnappings.

The heavily touted transfer was scheduled to take place five days ago, but was canceled at the last minute as the two sides tried to work out differences over the documents involved.

Neither the Iraqis nor coalition officials would describe the exact nature of the disagreement, except to say that it was procedural rather than substantive. U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the two sides decided it would be better to delay the event until there was complete agreement.

"It's the one event that puts the prime minister directly in the operational control of his military forces as his role as the commander in chief," Caldwell said. "So that's not something you want to rush into."

Turning over control of the country's security is vital to any eventual drawdown of U.S. forces here. After disbanding the remaining Iraqi army after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, coalition forces have been training the new Iraqi military.

However, it is unclear exactly how quickly Iraqi forces will be prepared to take over their own security.

"It's the prime minister's decision how rapidly he wants to move along with assuming control," Caldwell said. In Thursday's ceremony, the prime minister will take control of Iraq's small naval and air forces and the 8th Iraqi Army Division.

"They can move as rapidly thereafter as they want. I know, conceptually, they've talked about perhaps two divisions a month," Caldwell said.

The 8th Division has recently been in the center of one of the fiercest battles between Iraqi forces and Shiite militias. More than 20 soldiers and 50 militiamen were killed in the fighting between the division's troops and militia fighters on Aug. 28 in the southern city of Diwaniyah.

Days before the battle, the division's commander, Brig. Gen. Othman al-Farhoud, told The Associated Press that while his forces were capable of controlling security, they still needed support from the U.S.-led coalition. He said there was still a need for coalition air support, medical assistance and military storage facilities.

"In my opinion, it will take time," al-Farhoud said when asked how long it would take before his division was completely self-sufficient.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani predicted in a Tuesday meeting with visiting British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett that fighting in Iraq will have abated by the end of 2007, and that Iraqi forces will be able to handle any remaining violence.

Iraqi police, meanwhile, were once again the target of attacks Thursday.

A suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol outside a gas station near the Elouya Hospital in central Baghdad killed 10 people, including four policemen, and wounded 21, police said.

Another suicide car bombing in Taiyran Square in the center of the city killed three policemen and wounded 15, the prime minister's office said. Police initially reported two civilians and two policemen were killed.

Two suicide car bombs exploded near al-Nidaa Mosque in northern Baghdad, the prime minister's office said. Nobody was hurt in the first, but the second killed three civilians and wounded 12.

Another suicide car bomb in Taiyran Square in the center of the city killed two civilians and two police special forces members, and wounded 13 people, police said.

In western Baghdad, a roadside bombing in Qahtan Square near Yarmouk hospital wounded four people, including a policeman, Mahmoud said. Elsewhere, in the upscale district of Mansour, a roadside bomb explosion killed a man and injured his daughter and another person, police said.

On Wednesday night, gunmen kidnapped the nephew of Iraq's parliament speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, in Baghdad, was kidnapped, an interior ministry official said.

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Associated Press Writer Bushra Juhi contributed to this story.