Iraq's presidency council has approved a parliamentary measure allowing
the presence of non-U.S. foreign troops in the country after a United
Nations mandate expires at the end of this month.
The three-person council comprising Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and
two vice presidents ratified the measure on Sunday, after lawmakers
approved it last week.
The non-U.S. troops include those from Britain, Australia, Estonia, Romania, and NATO.
Also Sunday, the U.S. military said a soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in northern Baghdad.
And Iraqi authorities said a car bomb exploded outside the central city
of Fallujah Sunday, killing two civilians and wounding four more.
A report released Saturday shows Iraqi civilian deaths totaled more than eight-thousand this year.
It was a sharp drop from 2006 and 2007, when a total of more than 48-thousand civilians were killed.
The British non-governmental organization, Iraq Body Count, said the most dramatic drop in violence occurred in Baghdad.