First group of new troops set to leave for Baghdad
About 3,200 troops from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division are set to leave for Baghdad, Iraq, early next month, military officials stated on Sunday.
The group is the first of the 21,500 new soldiers President Bush has ordered for deployment. These troops are expected to "assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city," the military said in Sunday's statement.
Four more brigades are expected to be sent to Iraq between now and May as part of Bush's third attempt to end the sectarian warfare, according to The Associated Press.
Source: The Associated Press
Iran bans 38 inspectors from entering the country
Iran stopped 38 members of a U.N. nuclear inspection team from entering the country, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said yesterday.
The rejection may be retaliation for the U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran for its refusal to stop uranium enrichment last month, according to the AP. The inspectors were on a list compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"The act of rejecting some inspectors is legal and in accordance with the agency's regulations," Mottaki told the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Mottaki did not explain how Iran decided to ban the 38 inspectors.
The United States and some of its allies have accused the country of using its enrichment to develop nuclear weapons, the AP stated.
Source: the AP
-Compiled by City Editor Giselle Domdom
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