US and UK will start withdrawing troops in March report
London: The United States and Britain could start withdrawing troops from Iraq as early as March 2006, a British newspaper reported yesterday. "It will happen progressively over the next year," the Times newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Western diplomat as saying. "One of the first things we will talk about (with the new Iraqi government) is the phased transfer of security."

Bush hails upcoming elections
Philadelphia: President Bush hailed Iraq's upcoming parliamentary election as a "remarkable event in the Arab world" in a speech here on Monday. But he said that the voting would not bring an end to violence and that Iraq was still threatened by Iran, Syria and its own religious and ethnic tensions.

'We will not attack polling stations'
Baghdad: An Iraqi militant group said it would not attack polling stations in tomorrow's landmark election in Iraq, but said that did not mean it supported the poll, according to an internet statement posted yesterday. "According to our long-standing instructions not to launch random attacks that kill innocents and criminals, we order our fighters not to target voting areas to avoid bloodshed," said the Islamic Army in Iraq.