Iraq receives US reply on troop presence agreement (2nd Roundup)

Nov 6, 2008, 18:24 GMT

Baghdad - Iraq received the US reply on Thursday on amendments Baghdad wants to a security agreement that will form the legal basis for the future presence of American forces, an Iraqi government spokesperson said.

Iraqi political factions will take their time to decide on the changes on the American side, Ali al-Dabbagh said.

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) will govern the future of US troops in Iraq after the UN mandate expires at the end of the year. Iraqi media reported earlier that the US had agreed to an unspecified three out of the five amendments that Iraq made to the agreement.

US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that the latest US response to the Iraqi amendments brought a conclusion to the US side of the negotiations.

'We believe the process on our side has been concluded, so it's now the Iraqis' turn for them to move the document through their internal political process,' Wood said. 'We hope that that will be soon.'

'We have gotten back to them and we believe we have addressed a number of those issues in a way that respects the sovereignty of both countries,' Wood added.

Mid-October, both parties agreed that the last draft was final. But last week the Iraqi government handed the US embassy in Baghdad an amended draft.

Among the disputed points in the agreement is the immunity of US troops. Iraq said that US troops who commit crimes off duty should be judged according to Iraqi law, while the US wants them to be handed to US authorities for trial.

Iraq will also seal an agreement with Britain to decide on the future of 4,100 British troops stationed in Iraq.

Separately, a detonation killed a civilian and injured another four near the Imam Abdul Qader al-Kilani shrine in central Baghdad, police told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Also in central Baghdad, two bombs went off consecutively, killing a two people and wounding five others. A bomb blast in al-Hamza square in eastern Baghdad wounded six people, VOI reported.