NAJAF, Dec 20: Iraqi soldiers and police took charge of security in the holy city of Najaf and its province on Wednesday, at a colourful and optimistic jamboree. As Najaf became the first province to be handed over by the US military to its local allies, more than 1,000 local soldiers and police marched through a football stadium accompanied by cheers and a brass band.

“Our heroes! Our brothers in the Iraqi police and army!” called Najaf's Governor Assaad Abu-Gelal. “We need the area to be free of militias so that only the police and army can carry guns. I'm proud of you. ”US commander Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said: “Today marks a historic event for the great country of Iraq.

“The Iraqi police and Iraqi Army can assume overall responsibility for all law enforcement and security activities. This is a terrific success for Iraq, achieved through the policies of the Iraqi government,” he said.

Soldiers showed off their armoured personnel carriers and Humvees, police paraded with ceremonial swords and ended the well-organised celebration with a display of horsemanship.

In a demonstration of their capabilities before an admiring crowd, Iraqi commandos showed off karate moves, ripped up a live rabbit with their teeth and bit the heads off frogs.

While the troops and police on display represented both national and local commands, the ceremony had a local, Shia flavour. Pictures of Iraq's four most senior Shia ayatollahs were paraded.

Coalition forces remain ready to support local troops if needed, but their commanders now believe day-to-day operations in Najaf can be handled by Iraqis, a small step closer to the end of the US mission in Iraq.

Nevertheless, Brooks promised his Iraqi comrades: “We will be quite literally up the road.” British and Italian forces have already passed control of two southern provinces to local governors, but Wednesday's ceremony was the first of its kind in the more volatile US-controlled regions of central Iraq.

More provinces are expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.

“In a few days we shall see a transfer of security in the three provinces of Kurdistan,” Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said in Najaf.

Najaf's population is predominantly Shia and the area has been spared the worst of the sectarian fighting that has blighted the region around Baghdad.—AFP