WORLD> Middle East
Brown in Iraq ahead of pullout
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-18 07:47

BAGHDAD: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday, saying British troops would leave Iraq next year.

His fourth trip to Iraq as prime minister came a day after the Iraqi Cabinet drafted a law paving the way for British forces to withdraw in mid-2009, more than six years after the US-led invasion.

Brown's visit was not announced in advance, for security reasons. Shortly after he met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, twin bomb blasts in Baghdad killed 18 and wounded 53, in a bloody reminder of the violence that swept Iraq for years and which has only recently begun to wane.