US Military hands Security Control in Karbala to Iraqi Government

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who is in charge of the 3rd Infantry Division, said the Iraqis were ready to assume full control of their own security in the south-central province, which holds the shrines of two major Shiite saints, Imam Abbas and Imam Hussein. But U.S. troops will remain ready to step in when help is needed.

Karbala will become only the eighth of Iraq's 18 provinces to revert to Iraqi control, despite President Bush's prediction in January that the Iraqi government would have responsibility for security in all of the provinces by November.

Lynch dismissed concerns about rivalries among Shiites, two months after clashes between militiamen battling for power erupted during a major pilgrimage in the provincial capital of Karbala, left at least 52 people dead.

"Of course there's violence in the area but not nearly of the magnitude that would cause me to be troubled by it," he told The Associated Press on Saturday.