By Xinhua,
Baghdad : The Iraqi presidency council Thursday approved a security pact that will allow US troops to remain in the country for three more years, an official said.
“The presidency council has ratified the security deal with the US,” council spokesman Naseer al-Ani said.
The Iraqi presidency council consists of President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies.
On Nov 27, the Iraqi parliament had already endorsed the pact by a wide margin.
Under the pact, US troops would pull out of the Iraqi cities and towns by July 2009 and leave the country by the end of 2011. The pact, however, faces a referendum planned for next year.
The UN mandate on US troop deployment in Iraq will expire this month.
The approval from the council came even as Iraq has been hit by a surge of bomb attacks, mainly on the police, in recent weeks.
On Thursday, at least nine people were killed in two suicide car bomb attacks on police stations in Iraq’s western Fallujah city.