The Iraqi interim government has officially asked Denmark to keep its soldiers in Iraq, after Basra city council told Danish troops to leave until their country apologises for the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. "The Iraqi government formally asks the Danish military contingent to continue its presence and work in the south of Iraq as part of the international coalition," Hoshyar Zebari, Iraqi foreign minister, wrote to his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller, the Danish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, on Tuesday asked the Iraqi government to speak out on the issue of around 530 Danish troops, mostly based in Basra in southern Iraq under British command.