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US troops could be deployed alongside Iraqi and Kurdish forces after a series of bombings in disputed areas in the north of Iraq, the senior US military commander in the country has said.
Hassan al-Sineid, a Shia MP close to al-Maliki, welcomed the plan.
"This is a type of solution for the tense situation in the disputed territories between Kurds and Arabs," he said.
The Kurds want to bring oil-rich Kirkuk and several historically Kurdish areas of Nineveh under the control of their semi-autonomous region in the north of the country.
However, many of the Arabs and ethnic Turkmen who live in the areas want to remain under the direct control of Baghdad.
Scores of people have been killed in attacks across the region in recent weeks and there were three reported bombings in the city of Mosul on Monday alone.
'Neutral zones'
Odierno said that the planned deployment of the joint US-Iraqi-Kurdish forces would start in Ninevah province, which includes Mosul, and then extend to Kirkuk and to Diyala province north of the capital.
However, in a sign of the problems the proposed deployment could face, Atheel al-Nujaifi, the Sunni Arab governor of Nineveh province, said he would welcome US and Iraqi forces, but not the Kurds.
"But since the Kurdish officials object to this idea, then I think there is no need for joint forces in these areas," he said.
About 130,000 US troops remain in Iraq, but a brigade is set to leave the country by the end of August and not be replaced. The USmilitary has not yet specified how many troops would be left in Iraq at that point.
The security deal between deal requires all US forces to leave the country entirely by the end of 2011.
PHOTO CAPTION
An Iraqi soldier
Agencies
