Odierno takes leadership of US Iraq troops amid violence (Roundup)

Sep 16, 2008, 18:07 GMT

US General Ray Odierno listens to a question during a press briefing after a Change of Command ceremony at camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, 16 September 2008. David Petraeus, the American general who presided over Iraq\'s pullback from the brink of all-out civil war, relinquished his command 16 September 2008 to Generel Ray Odierno. EPA/DUSAN VRANIC POOL

Baghdad - US General David Petraeus handed over command of Multi-National Forces in Iraq on Tuesday to his former deputy, Lieutenant-General Ray Odierno in a ceremony in Baghdad.

The ceremony was attended by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in a palace formerly owned by Saddam Hussein, near Baghdad's airport.

Odierno is on his third tour of duty in Iraq. He commanded the 4th Infantry Division in 2003 and was responsible for cracking down in an area north-west of Baghdad known as the Sunni triangle.

For Odierno, taking charge of the 146,000 US troops in Iraq, many problems remain despite the relative success of his predecessor. Violence in Iraq has dropped in recent months, although specific areas are still enmeshed in sectarian fighting.

This is especially the case in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, where many former officers and members of the secret service of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein live.

Dozens of suicide bombers, men as well as women, have blown themselves up in the province in recent weeks.

Another powder keg is the city of Kirkuk, where Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs are battling for influence as well as the proceeds from oil revenues.

According to Western analysts future success in Iraq depends in part on whether Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is able crack down on corruption that is rife within government ranks.

Meanwhile, in eastern Baghdad two policemen were killed and another three policemen were injured when a bomb struck their patrol in Or district, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

Also, in the northern province of Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, unidentified gunmen killed a civilian and injured another in Dakamat village in the western part of the province.

A police investigation is underway to catch the assailants.

Unknown gunmen in a civilian car opened fire on Monday night on a 25 year-old civilian in Mosul, 405 km north of Baghdad.

Sources said that the fatality was a student in the faculty of arts. The reasons behind his killing are still unknown.

In the north-east of Mosul, three civilians were injured when a bomb hit an army patrol. None of the troops were injured in the incident, army sources said.

Also in Mosul two policemen were injured in a detonation that targeted their patrol late on Monday night. The explosion took place in the Temuz district in the west of the city.

Mosul has experienced an upswing in violence in recent weeks, amid fears that al-Qaeda operatives are regaining a foothold in the city following a US troop reduction.

In Baghdad, police arrested eight suspects in search of accomplices of a female suicide bomber who killed 22 people.

The bomber blew herself up Monday amidst a crowd near a police station in Balad Ruz in Diyala province, 57 kilometres north-east of Baghdad VOI reported.

Eleven policemen were among the 22 fatalities. Thirty-three civilians were injured in the attack.