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.

But he added that it would most likely have been delayed anyway out of respect for the victims of Thursday's bombing in Garma, 30 km (20 miles) west of Baghdad.

"This also is a reason for delaying: There will be all these funerals in Anbar ... It is respectful not to hold ceremonies while the funerals are still on," he said.

The U.S. military said its forces killed an al Qaeda militant and detained another eight in operations in different parts of the country on Thursday and Friday.

One of those arrested was suspected of links to an al Qaeda cell in Anbar believed to be responsible for Thursday's bombing, it said in a statement.

AL QAEDA STILL A THREAT

No new date has been set for the handover of the province, but Hughes said he expected it would go ahead next week.

Security responsibilities are already being gradually transferred to Iraqi forces anyway, he said. "It's not going to change anything on the ground. It's very symbolic."