U.S. handover of Iraqi province delayed

By Tim Cocks

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The handover of security control in Iraq's Anbar province to Iraqi forces has been put on hold, the U.S. military said on Friday, blaming a sandstorm forecast to hit the region.

The sandstorm could have prevented officials flying to Anbar for Saturday's handover ceremony, the U.S. military said.

Anbar, a vast region to the west of Baghdad, was once the heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency against U.S. forces and Shi'ite-led governments in Baghdad.

It is set to be the first Sunni Arab region handed back to Iraqi control, a sign of the remarkable turnaround in security in the province since tribes there turned against al Qaeda.

Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Hughes, spokesman for the U.S. Marines in western Iraq, said the delay was not linked to a bomb attack in Anbar on Thursday. The attack killed 20 people, including three U.S. Marines and two interpreters.

"Later this evening, we're expecting a brown-out. It's going to be difficult to travel," Hughes said.

"We've lost so much out here, we don't want this (handover) to go un-noticed," he said, referring to the hundreds of U.S. Marines killed in the province since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Ahmed Abu Risha, the head of Iraq's U.S.-backed Awakening Council, an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes fighting al Qaeda militants, said Iraqi security forces took the decision to postpone the handover because of the weather.