WARSAW, Dec 27: Poland will maintain troops in the international stabilization force in Iraq until the end of 2006 but will cut the number to fewer than 1,000, officials said on Tuesday. “The government has asked President Lech Kaczynski to extend the mandate of Polish forces in Iraq from January 1, 2006 until December 31, 2006,” Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz told a news conference.

But by March Poland will have reduced troop numbers in Iraq to around 900 from the current level of around 1,450, Deputy Defence Minister Stanislaw Koziej told reporters.—AFP