Iraq: More nations plan pull-out

Denmark announced that it would withdraw its ground troops serving under British command in Basra, as other countries review their participation in the coalition force.

Lithuania, which has 53 soldiers in Iraq serving alongside the Danish battalion, also said it was considering a pull-out.

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The Romanian Defence Minister said that Bucharest would take a decision on the presence of its 600 soldiers in Iraq, mostly serving under British command, in the next few days. But President Traian Basescu, who is also under pressure to announce a withdrawal timetable, warned that a hasty pull-out of the international coalition forces "would cause chaos and the division of Iraq".

Poland has already announced that it will bring home its 900 troops by the end of the year, and Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Japan and New Zealand have already withdrawn their troops.

South Korea, which has a contingent of 2,300 troops in the northern city of Arbil, intends to withdraw half by April, and its parliament is calling for a complete pull-out by the end of the year.

Australia said yesterday that it would keep 1,400 soldiers in and around Iraq, while the Bulgarian parliament voted to keep its 155 troops beyond the expiry of their current mandate next month.