Iraq Committed to June 30 Withdrawal for American Troops

BAGHDAD, May 4 -- Iraq will not extend the June 30 deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from urban areas despite concerns about a resurgence of violence in recent weeks, a spokesman said Monday.

The government has insisted it is committed to the timeline laid out in a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that calls for American forces to pull back from urban areas by the summer and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011.

But a series of high-profile bombings have cast doubt on the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over security responsibilities. In particular, U.S. commanders have pointed to the volatile northern city of Mosul as a possible exception to the withdrawal plans.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, however, said the deadlines were "non-extendable."

"These dates cannot be extended, and this is consistent with the transfer and handover of responsibility to Iraqi security forces," Dabbagh said in a statement.

The Pentagon said the announcement was in line with its plans.

"We have said all along that we are planning to abide by the security agreement," Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said in Washington. "We've said that any request to stay in the cities longer will come from the Iraqi government."

Underscoring the dangers still facing Iraqis, two car bombs exploded Monday almost simultaneously in Baghdad near the Oil Ministry and a police academy, police officials said. At least three people were killed and eight wounded in the attacks, according to the U.S. military.

Also Monday, in Duluiyah, north of Baghdad, a Sunni tribal group that had turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq postponed plans to disband after receiving assurances that its leader would be released, the group's acting chief said.

Nadhim al-Jubouri and his two brothers were arrested Saturday by U.S.-Iraqi forces. A U.S. military statement said the three were wanted for "terrorism."

The acting leader of the Duluiyah Awakening Council, Mohammed Khalil Ibrahim, had threatened to disband the group in the area it controls unless its leader was freed by early Monday. Any step back by the Awakening Councils could leave areas more vulnerable to attacks from insurgents, who have sharply increased bombings in the past month.

But Ibrahim said Monday that he had met with Jubouri at the police station in nearby Balad and was told that orders had been issued to release him soon.

The move could avert the latest showdown between Iraq's Shiite-dominated government and the Sunni groups that have accused it of unfairly targeting its members for past bloodshed.