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US-led coalition forces plan to quit Iraq in early 2007, as at least four people were killed in bombings and clashes in the strife-torn country.

Three men guarding a Sunni mosque in Baghdad were shot dead overnight when gunmen dressed in police uniforms attacked the building, an interior ministry official said, with six more guards wounded in the ensuing firefight.

News of the unrest, including an Iraqi soldier killed in a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint in Mahmudiya, south of the capital, came amid persistent reports that foreign troops would soon leave the country.

Two British newspapers, the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Mirror, quoting unnamed senior British Army sources, said the coalition intended to reduce its presence on the ground over the next 12 months, while withdrawing forces into bases, and then pull out all remaining troops simultaneously.

Washington and London believe that maintaining their military presence is counter-productive as foreign forces are increasingly viewed as occupation troops, even though they remain at the Iraqi government's request, the papers said.

But a US military spokesman in Baghdad Sunday dismissed the report of a deadline for a US troop pull-out.

"The news report on a withdrawal of forces within a set timeframe is completely false," said Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson.

"As we've said over and over again, any withdrawal will be linked to the ability of the Iraqi security forces to maintain domestic order on behalf of a representative Iraqi government that respects the rights of all its citizens. This is an ongoing assessment and not linked to any timeframe," he added.

US-led forces, which invaded Iraq in 2003, currently number about 157,000, of which 136,000 are from the United States and 21,000 from 26 other coalition countries.

A ministry of defence spokesman in London also rejected the withdrawal reports, saying the British government had not altered its position set out by Defence Secretary John Reid on February 7.

Reid said then that the "time was approaching" when coalition forces could begin leaving Iraq, but refused to give any detailed timetable.

A decision would be taken "just as soon as the conditions are right", he added, while insisting Britain would not "cut and run".

The top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, Friday said a review of force levels would be made in coming months in line with an assessment of how soon Iraq's new security forces -- which currently number some 230,000 -- will be able to take over responsibilities.

The Pentagon had earlier indicated it hoped to draw down the size of the US force to about 100,000 by the end of this year as Iraqi security forces gain in strength and experience.

But last month's outbreak of sectarian violence between Iraq's majority Shiites and the historically-dominant but now sidelined minority Sunnis has raised questions on how soon this could be done.

British forces, the second largest coalition force in Iraq with just over 8,000 troops, are also expected to start withdrawing this year in line with a build-up of their forces in Afghanistan.

Britain and Australia are expected to start pulling out in May.

Meanwhile, a South Korean general, quoted by Yonhap news agency, Sunday said his country planned a one-third cut in its military in Iraq starting next month, in line with a December parliamentary decision.

South Korea, the third largest coalition force with 3,200 men deployed in northern Iraq will be reduced to 2,300 this year.

"The reduction, beginning with the replacement of troops in April, will be done by the end of this year," Major General Jung Seung-Jo said in an interview with Yonhap from Arbil, in Iraq.

South Korean troops are involved in non-combat relief and rehabilitation missions in Iraq.

Italy, which has the fourth-largest contingent in Iraq with 2,600 men, has said it will withdraw them all by the end of the year, while Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to shortly announce that his troops will leave Iraq between April and June.

In the United States, the cost of the mission, including the death of over 2,300 US soldiers, has led public opinion to increasingly question the military deployment.

A recent poll by Le Moyne College and Zogby International even suggested that nearly one in three American soldiers thought US troops should be withdrawn immediately from Iraq, with just 23 percent believing they should stay "as long as it takes".

(Chinadaily.com via agencies March 6, 2006)