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German foreign minister makes surprise visit to Iraq

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier flew in on a surprise trip to Iraq yesterday, in the first such visit since 1987, Iraqi officials said.

Steinmeier is due to meet Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during his trip, which comes exactly a week after a surprise mission by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Like France, Germany was an opponent of the US-led invasion of 2003, which toppled former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s regime. Steinmeier was chief of staff to then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder when the war broke out.

Steinmeier was also expected to open a German consulate in Arbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan in the north of the country, Kurdish press reports said.

Maliki, in an interview published yesterday in Germany’s Bild newspaper, said Iraq’s military capacity had been improved to a level that they could now handle the country’s security on their own.

The US-led coalition was now playing a mainly logistical role in support of Iraq’s security forces, he said.

Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper, quoting German envoys, reported in November before a date was set for the Iraqi visit that Steinmeier would seek to “finally normalize relations with the Iraqi government.” The visit would also “send a signal that the German government supports the Obama policy for the Middle East,” it said.

Meanwhile, roadside bombs struck a pair of minibuses filled with Shiite pilgrims returning to Baghdad on Monday, killing eight people, officials said.

The first bomb rocked a minibus pulling into a busy square in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City killing four and wounding 11 others, a police official said.

The driver said his minibus was filled with pilgrims returning from the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 80km south of the capital.

The second minibus, also coming from Karbala, was hit in the Shiite neighborhood of al-Kamaliya in southeast Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 13 others, the police official said.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

In other developments, the US military said yesterday that the number of detainees held in Iraq has dropped to 14,500 as it speeds prisoner releases and transfers to Iraqi custody to meet the requirements of a US-Iraqi security agreement.

The military said in a statement that it has been releasing 1,500 detainees a month — 50 a day — to meet the requirements of the agreement that took effect on Jan. 1.

Under the US-Iraq agreement, US forces in Iraq can no longer hold suspects without charge as they have done since the 2003 invasion. The US military must hand over detainees wanted by the Iraqis and release the rest.

The overall number of detainees has fallen from a peak of 26,000 in 2007 to 14,500 this month.
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