American combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq's cities, towns and villages by the end of this month, withdrawing to other bases, but a small number of military advisers and trainers will remain.

"The Iraqi government has agreed on the stay of some non-combat troops," Major General Robert Caslen, the senior US officer in northern Iraq, told reporters, stressing that they would work in a supportive role.

"They will support Iraqi forces in anything they want, and they will be in five districts only, working with Iraqis," he added.

Violence in Mosul, often targeting Iraqi and US security forces, is a daily occurence. It is being tackled by joint patrols and US-led and funded civil projects to boost local employment.

Caslen said coalition forces would continue to launch operations in remote areas and away from cities, but only "with the agreement of Iraqi forces".

The governor of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, meanwhile, has proposed that American military vehicles seen in Mosul after June 30 are likely to carry special markings.

"There will be words written on the vehicles moving in the streets," said Caslen, noting that this would take between two and four weeks to finalise.

"This is the idea of the governor," he added.

Iraqi Major General Hassan Karim Khodhair said the June 30 withdrawal was "a historic day" and that both militaries were working closely together to ensure a smooth transition.

"There is a major effort by the different leaderships and all the operating units," he said at a joint press conference with Caslen.

"There is clear coordination from people in Mosul that helped the province to make this progress. The security file will be in the hands of our forces, and they are able to do their tasks completely."

The pullout comes in the wake of several large bombings across the country, the latest of which, in Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad, killed at least 62 people and wounded 150 on Wednesday.

The recent spate of attacks led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to reassure Iraqis on Thursday that his security forces were able to protect the nation.

He appealed to Iraqis to inform the army and police of any potential attacks, to ensure that the country did not return to the sectarian violence that blighted it throughout 2006 and 2007.

"Security forces need more intelligence to cope with the effects of sectarianism that some are trying to bring back," he said.

Key dates in the Iraqi conflict from the US-led invasion of March 2003:

2003

March 20: US-led forces bomb and then invade Iraq, where they allege that president Saddam Hussein is building weapons of mass destruction.

April 9: US forces move into the heart of Baghdad, where they topple a large statue of Saddam signalling the downfall of the regime.

May 1: US President George W. Bush announces the end of major combat operations using a "Mission Accomplished" banner, but the violence continues.

September 3: The first post-Saddam cabinet is sworn in.

October 2: US acknowledges that no weapons of mass destruction were found.

October 16: UN Resolution 1511 legitimises the US-led occupation.

December 13: Saddam captured.

2004

April-August: Clashes between coalition forces and supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

April 28: Publication of photographs of Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by American troops in Abu Ghraib prison.

June 28: The US-led administration says it has handed over power to Iraqis.

2005

January 30: Iraqis go to the polls in the first multi-party vote in 50 years despite a spate of deadly attacks, but disenchanted Sunni Arabs largely boycott the vote.

April 6: Jalal Talabani chosen to be president, the first Kurd to hold the office in Iraq's modern history.

October 15: Iraqis vote in force on a draft constitution.

December 15: The conservative Shiite United Iraqi Alliance wins most seats in the parliamentary election for the first permanent post-Saddam government.

2006

February 22: Shiite shrine at Samarra, north of Baghdad, blown up; 450 people die in surge of sectarian violence.

April 22: Talabani re-elected president. Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, forms a government in May.

June 7: Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, killed in a US air strike.

July: The United States hands over to Iraqi security control of the first of the country's 18 provinces.

October 11: A law establishing federal provinces is passed.

November 5: Saddam condemned to death for the execution of 148 Shiites in the 1980s.

December 30: Saddam hanged.

2007

January 10: Bush announces the dispatch of 30,000 more American troops in a so-called "surge" strategy.

February 14: Start of security plan for Baghdad.

August 14: More than 400 people killed by suicide truck bombs targeting the ancient Yazidi religious sect in two Kurdish villages in northern Iraq.

2008

March 23: Death toll of US troops reaches 4,000 since May 2003.

September 1: The US military transfers control of western province of Anbar to Iraqi forces, the first Sunni-majority province to be handed over.

August 28: Sadr announces a halt to operations by the Mahdi Army.

November 27: Parliament ratifies an Iraq-US security agreement which gives American troops a legal basis to stay in Iraq and sets an end-2011 deadline for their departure.

2009

January 1: The US formally transfers control of Baghdad's high-security Green Zone and other key installations to Iraqis.

January 20: Incoming President Barack Obama says the United States will "begin to responsibly leave Iraq".

February 27: Obama announces that all US combat operations in Iraq will end by August 31, 2010, and that he intends to fully withdraw all American troops by the end of 2011.

March 8: US says 12,000 more US troops to leave by end-September.

April 30: British forces end Iraq combat operations at Basra ceremony.

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