Seoul: South Korea today officially terminated all military operations in Iraq, with troops there preparing for a complete withdrawal before Christmas, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The move comes more than four years after the country first dispatched the 3,600-strong Zaytun contingent to the Kurdish-controlled northern Iraqi city of Irbil. Troop levels were later reduced to 520 following four extensions of duty.

"The Zaytun unit, deployed to Iraq's Irbil area in September 2004, has since provided medical services to 88,805 local residents, while also providing classes on various vocational technologies, including computer and equipment maintenance, vehicle repairs and bakery, to 2,299 people," the JCS said.

The decision to pull out the troops was made late last year when the National Assembly agreed to approve a one-year extension of deployment with no possibility for another extension. The unit will start pulling out Wednesday, along with troops from an air support unit based in neighboring Kuwait, according to the JCS. The withdrawal will be completed before December 20.

A ceremony hosted by Gen Raymond T Odierno, the US commander of the Multinational Force-Iraq, will be held in Irbil later today to mark the termination of South Korean operations there, the JCS said.

Source : PTI