BAGHDAD, Dec 23: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on a visit to Baghdad on Friday that the United States will withdraw some of its combat forces from Iraq early next year.

Meanwhile, six Sudanese, including a diplomat, were reported kidnapped in the strife-torn country.

Mr Rumsfeld’s announcement means the number of US troops will drop back under the level of 138,000 for the first time since April 2004.

Commander of US forces in Iraq, General George Casey said that the president and Mr Rumsfeld had accepted his recommendation not to deploy two brigades scheduled for deployment next year.

“The brigades run about 3,500 plus or minus change, so it is about 7,000 of the total troops we are talking about here. You are not going to see it in the numbers really until March,” he told reporters.

The defence secretary added that troop levels would vary as their mission changed and could even still go up.

“The size and composition of US forces will continue to fluctuate as commanders continue to shift focus from combat to supporting and training the Iraqi security forces.

“This will include increases in the number of US forces involved in transition teams, intelligence support and logistics, to assist the Iraqi security forces in continuing to assume increasing responsibility for the security of the country,” he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday also raised the prospects of starting a British troop pulldown next year, while the Lithuanian government on Friday announced the withdrawal of half of its 100-man force from the country.

Mr Rumsfeld, who arrived in the country from Afghanistan on Thursday, held talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on Friday after a side trip to Jordan to inspect a training facility for Iraqi security forces.—AFP