By Xinhua,
Warsaw : Poland will withdraw all its troops from Iraq by mid-October, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said on Saturday.
The last Polish soldier will leave Iraq “in mid-October,” said the minister in an interview with local radio RMF FM.
“It will be an important ceremony which will end our political responsibility for the whole region,” he said.
“At the end of June, I will hand over to the Iraqis responsibility for the whole province” of Diwaniyah, said Klich.
Poland currently has some 900 military staff in Iraq, and 20 soldiers have died since 2003 when Poland deployed some 2,600 troops to Diwaniyah to back the U.S.-led military operation in the Middle East country.
Recent polls by Poland’s research center for public opinions have showed that about 81 percent of the Polish oppose to the country’s military presence in Iraq.