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Portuguese force to leave Iraq two days early
09/02/2005 15:32
LISBON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Portugal's paramilitary force will return from Iraq early on Thursday, two days earlier than planned, Lusa news agency reported on Wednesday.
The return has been accelerated for logistical reasons, Lusa said, quoting a spokesman for the 127-strong group of paramilitary officers.
Four officers will remain behind with Italian and British units in Nassiriya and Basra to arrange the training of Iraqi security forces, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Training will be conducted later in Portugal.
The Portuguese force has been in Nassariya, about 300 km (200 miles) south of Baghdad, since November 2003 and was originally scheduled to return home after a year.
The troops' stay was later extended to Feb. 12 so that they could help provide security for Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.
Former prime minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso has been a staunch ally of the United States in its war on Iraq, despite public opposition. His successor, Pedro Santana Lopes, has followed Barroso's foreign policy.
((Writing by Elinor Mills, editing by Andrew Roche.
elinor.mills@reuters.com, 351 21 350 9209))