BAGHDAD - The holy city of Najaf, seat of IraqÂ’s most powerful Shia clerics and scene of an uprising against US troops after Saddam HusseinÂ’s fall, will be officially handed over to Iraqi control on Wednesday.
The province of Najaf is the third of IraqÂ’s 18 provinces to be transferred from the US-led occupying forces to Iraqi security forces. British forces handed over Muthanna province in July and Dhi Qar in September, both in the relatively calm Shia south of the country.
| Question: three provinces, all in the south, will be under Iraqi control -- what about the Kurdish north? Are we maintaining security control there or do the Kurds handle this? If so, that's six provinces, not three, under local control. |
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