By NNN-KUNA,
Baghdad : Iraq forces took over Wednesday the responsibility for security in the Qadisiyah province and its capital, Diwaniyah, from the Multi-National Force (MNF).
Diwaniyah is 180 kilometres south of Baghdad.
The area saw tightened security measures, with curfew imposed as of Tuesday, as well as intensive security force deployment, as a number of official delegations attended the handover ceremony.
Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwafaq Al-Rubaie represented Primer Nouri Al-Maliki at the ceremony. Hamid Al-Khudari, governor of the Qadisiyah province, along with other local and MNF senior officials attended the ceremony.
The handover ceremony was scheduled for June 30 but was delayed due to bad weather conditions that prevented US and Iraqi officials from flying to the venue.
The Qadisiyah province witnessed considerable improvement in its security situation in the past three months after the launch of the US-Iraqi joint operation that was called “Lion’s Leap” against the Mahdi Army in Diwaniyah.
The nine provinces that have so far been handed over to the local forces are Maysan, Muthanna, Basra, Dhi Qar, Najaf, Karbala, and the three Kurdish provinces of Dohuk, Sulaimaniyah and Irbil.