BAGHDAD, Jan 20: While US troops come under almost daily assault from guerillas, Iraq's canine population are being won over with a pat on the back and a ticket out of here.

Dozens of American servicemen patrolling the battle-weary streets of Baghdad are adopting stray Iraqi dogs and flying them back to the United States. "Sixteen dogs have already been sent back to the States, and another 14 are due to go on Thursday," Farah Murrani, 27, assistant director of Baghdad Zoo, said on Tuesday.

Iraqi pets are now part of American families as far apart as Georgia to Oregon, and from California to New York, US Captain Will Sumner said. Stray dogs are endemic in Iraq, where animal welfare charities are practically unheard of and few are kept as pets. "They're just popping up out of nowhere," said Murrani, a vet and head of the Iraqi Humane Society. -AFP