More deadly violence has hit Iraq as the top US military commander said that attacks on occupation forces had fallen to "around 20" per day. "We have achieved a significant decrease in attacks," Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said Saturday, according to AFP.
In November, which proved to be the deadliest month for US soldiers in Iraq, the number of daily attacks surpassed 35 per day. "We've been able to make effective headway against these terrorist and anti-coalition elements," he conveyed.
Sanchez also said the "coalition" was reviewing the pay scale for the New Iraqi Army after about 300 soldiers -- nearly half of the first batallion -- quit two days ago.
Late Friday, US soldiers killed an Iraqi man in Tikrit, saying he opened fire on them from a car just outside a US military base. The driver claimed the two had been firing celebratory shots in the air for a wedding when the soldiers killed his friend with four gunshots to the head.
Meanwhile, Georgia is to dispatch 500 soldiers to Iraq by next summer US ambassador to Tbilisi, Richard Miles, said Saturday. They will join 70 elite troops, doctors and mine-clearing experts who were sent to Baghdad in August. (albawaba.com)
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