Iraqi troops take over from Georgian soldiers

Baghdad: Iraqi troops have taken over the checkpoints guarded by Georgian soldiers who pulled out of Iraq, the US military said on Friday.

The Georgian contingent of 2,000 were transported home because of the conflict with Russia over the separatist region of South Ossetia which erupted last week.

The Georgians were mainly deployed in Iraq's southern Wasit province, manning checkpoints near the border with Iran.

"Right now, the Iraqi soldiers have taken over the responsibility of the traffic control point," said 2nd Lieutenant Charlie Hines, US military liaison with Iraqi forces.

"We are going to train them to be able to take over the entire patrol base, go and do presence patrols and set up temporary traffic control points in our area," Hines said.