DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

Iraqi security forces have formally taken control of Karbala from US troops. That's the eighth of Iraq's 18 provinces where responsibility for security has been handed over to Iraqi troops. The handover ceremony was held under tight security in the city of Karbala, which is home to two of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki described it as an historic occasion. Meanwhile, at least 20 decapitated corpses have been found in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad. In the Iraqi capital itself, a US general has been wounded by a roadside bomb. Brigadier General Jeffrey Dorko is the highest-ranking US soldier to be wounded since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. He has been evacuated to the US military hospital at Landstuhl in south-western Germany. This came just hours after a suicide bomber killed 30 Iraqi police officers near a police training centre in Diyala province.