WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government has fewer military battalions that can operate independently than early this year when the U.S. military buildup for Iraq started, the U.S. military chief said on Friday.

    "Today, the numbers I saw were six battalions operating independently and another almost 100 that are operating in the lead," General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference.

    Pace, however, said the readiness of the Iraqi military units should not be "overly of concern."

    The Iraqi units operating the field had casualties, consumed vehicles and equipment and needed to be resupplied, just like U.S. military units, he said.

    Ten Iraqi army battalions were rated as capable of operating independently in March, when the U.S. military buildup had just started, and 88 others were in the "lead" of operations, according to Pace.

    Currently there were 6,000 U.S. troops involved in training Iraqi security forces. "We do need to do more training with the Iraqis. We do need to have more opportunities to have embedded units with them," he said.

    Bush ordered about 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq early this year, to help quell sectarian violence in the country. There are about 160,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq at present, and over 3,600 American troops have been killed in Iraq since the war started in March 2003.