Iraq MPs block non-US troop bill

The UK plans to withdraw its 4,100 troops by the end of July 2009

Iraq's parliament has rejected a draft law that would have permitted forces from the UK, Australia and a number of other countries to remain after 2008.

The bill, rejected by 80 votes to 68, would have given the 6,000 non-US troops a legal basis for staying once the UN mandate expires on 31 December.

It will now be sent back to the cabinet for amendment. A vote is due next week.

The 140,000 US troops are allowed to remain until the end of 2011 under a separate status of forces agreement.

Fariad Rawndouzi, a Kurdish MP, told the BBC many of his colleagues were not happy with the formulation of the bill, and wanted it to more closely resemble the deal between the US and Iraq.

What the parliament did today, rejecting the bill, was a great national achievement Nasser al-IssawiAl-Sadr Bloc Iraq pullout is 'met with relief'

A member of the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front, Hussein al-Falluji, echoed the sentiment, saying that relations between Iraq and other states ought to be "arranged, according to international law, through treaties or agreements".

"For this reason parliament rejected this law. It was a big mistake by the government," he told the Reuters news agency.

Nasser al-Issawi, an MP loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, hailed the rejection of the draft as a "great national achievement", and said he hoped the foreign troops would be forced to leave when the UN mandate ends.

The government has so far not commented on the vote. A draft had already been rejected earlier this week, the Associated Press reports.

NON-US FORCES IN IRAQ UK - 4,100 Australia - 1,000 Romania - 500 El Salvador - 200 Estonia - 40

Earlier in the week, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the UK planned to withdraw its troops from southern Iraq by the end of July 2009, as envisaged by the draft law.

Military operations will end by 31 May and the remaining 4,100 service personnel will leave within two months. Several hundred trainers will remain, some working with the Iraqi navy.

"I feel that the task that we set out to do is being done and that's why we can take a decision to bring most of our forces home," Mr Brown told the BBC on Wednesday.

Apart from the US and UK, the only countries continuing to provide troops for Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) are Australia, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania and Nato.