- Title: IRAQ: FINAL SPANISH TROOPS LEAVE IRAQ.
- Date: 15th May 2004
- Summary: (W5) BASRA, IRAQ (MAY 15, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS: SPANISH TROOPS ON THE ROAD; TROOPS CROSSING THE BORDER INTO KUWAIT; SPANISH TRUCKS AND MILITARY VEHICLES 2.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 30th May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BASRA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA92IM0O7X0KONS80T9ZLTJ5199
- Story Text: The last of the Spanish troops in Iraq have now
left.
Spanish troops have left their base at Diwaniya in
Iraq.
They pulled out on Saturday (May 15), handing control
to U. S. soldiers.
The withdrawal makes good a pledge from the new Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero following the
Madrid train bombings in March.
Zapatero's Socialists won a surprise victory in a March
14 general election, ousting the pro-U.S. Popular Party
government which sent 1,300 troops to Iraq after the war.
His first decision in office was to order the
withdrawal, bringing forward his campaign promise to pull
troops out if the United Nations did not take charge in
Iraq by June 30.
Spain's general election was held three days after the
Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people, blamed by
authorities on al Qaeda-linked militants seeking revenge
for Spain sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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