BAGHDAD, April 30 (Xinhuanet) -- US troops in and around Fallujah will not withdraw from the city despite an agreement to hand over the security to a newly-formed Iraqi force led by an officer from the former Iraqi army, senior US military spokesman said Friday.

   Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told a news conference that the new Iraqi force will be "completely integrated" with Marines, who will maintain strong presence "in and around" the city.

   The Marines were not "withdrawing", but were "repositioning" their forces, he told the reporters.

   Kimmitt said he had no information on the background of the new Iraqi commander of the Fallujah force, former Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Salih though the commander had been checked by the Marines who had full confidence in him.

   Earlier, Salih said he was forming a military unit to restore calm to the bloodied Iraqi city of Fallujah after an agreement with US occupation forces.

   The force would help Iraqi security forces bring order to the town, so US forces would not be needed, said Salih, who said to had been chief of staff of a Republican Guard brigade under the toppled president Saddam Hussein.

   He did not clarify who would make up the unit, but said that "we have now begun forming a new contingent military force to help the forces of the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps and the Iraqi police in completing the mission of imposing security and stability in Fallujah without the need for the American army, which the people of Fallujah reject."

   Earlier on Friday, US Marines withdrew from parts of Fallujah which they had occupied for the last three weeks while Iraqi police were deployed in some areas inside the city.

   The city has been the scene of the most violent clashes during April with scores of US soldiers and hundreds of Iraqi civilians and fighters killed.

   The withdrawal follows a push for a political settlement in the city and troops on Friday were seen taking down barbed wire and defences while tanks left the area.  Enditem