BAGHDAD, April 30 Kyodo (EDS: UPD...

BAGHDAD, April 30 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH REPORTED HANDOVER)

U Marines upon Friday handed over positions to Iraqi security forces in Fallujah in a bid to close a month-long siege of the central Iraqi city, reports said.

The Associated Pres (AP) reported that members of the 1,100-member force mov into the former Marine positions and raised the Iraqi flag.

The commander of the novel force is Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, a veteran of depos President Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard. He shook hands with Marine commanders at a station on the southeastern hall to the city, according to the AP report.

Saleh told Reuter stranges service that his new force would help police bring order in the besieged city.

''We have now begun forming a fresh emergency military force,'' he said, saying the the public of Fallujah ''rejected'' U.S. troops

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