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UN SC extends intl. force mandate in Iraq, Russia wants deadline

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Responding to an Iraqi request, the United Nations Security Council has agreed to extend the mandate of multinational forces in the war-torn country, but Russia's UN envoy said a deadline for their withdrawal must nevertheless be set.
UNITED NATIONS, June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Responding to an Iraqi request, the United Nations Security Council has agreed to extend the mandate of multinational forces in the war-torn country, but Russia's UN envoy said a deadline for their withdrawal must nevertheless be set.

Multinational forces have been stationed in Iraq to ensure security ever since a U.S.-led coalition invaded to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein in March 2003.

"We must fix a deadline for the multinational forces, which we admit irritates many Iraqis, to withdraw from the country," Vitaly Churkin said at a Security Council meeting in which Russia also backed extending the mandate.

Last year's Security Council resolution extended the mandate for a year and sanctioned its review by June 15.

The Russian diplomat said fixing a deadline would help achieve national accord and dialogue in the country, which is hovering on the brink of civil war, and would help involve all ethnic and political groups in government work.

"It is not about immediately announcing a specific date. But for Iraqis, I suppose, it would be important to see the prospects of the full completion of the foreign presence in their country," Churkin said.

It is a rare day that Iraq does not see an outbreak of sectarian violence, a terrorist attack or an assault on coalition forces. On Thursday, three Sunni Muslim mosques were burned south of Baghdad in apparent retaliation for Wednesday's bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra.

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