Italian troops based in Nassiriya have finished the period during which they supervised the assumption of security duties by Iraqi forces and will now complete their planned withdrawal.
Italy handed over responsibility for security in the Dhi Qar province to Iraqi forces in September but remained to supervise the transition and offer assistance if requested by local authorities.
No such requests were made during the following month.
The withdrawal of the some 1,600 remaining Italian troops is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Italy, which did not take part in the US-led war on Iraq, at one point deployed 3,200 troops in Iraq making it the fourth largest contingent after the American, British and South Korean.
Since June 2003 there were 32 Italian military casualties in Iraq and six civilians also lost their lives.
