BAGHDAD, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that his government had succeeded in preventing civil war in the war-torn country and that violence had been dropped to 75 percent in Baghdad and other volatile provinces.
"We have succeeded in preventing Iraq from sliding into a civil war in spite of all the attempts to destabilize the country by local and international groups," Maliki told lawmakers in the Iraqi parliament.
In his assessment for the situation in Iraq, Maliki said that the violence levels in Baghdad and the restive province of Anbar had dropped 75 percent since the beginning of the Iraqi and U.S.security plan in February.
Maliki's assessment came hours before the U.S. top officials in Iraq deliver a vital report of progress made in the violence-ravaged country to the U.S. Congress. The report could decide the future of U.S. strategy on the war.
The top Iraqi official also said that his government policy toward the restive provinces has made 14,178 fighters from the Iraqi militant groups to turn against al-Qaida in Iraq network and joined training with the Iraqi security forces in Diyala province,northeast of Baghdad.
According to Maliki, the Iraqi troops killed 652 terrorists and detained some 5,940 wanted and suspected terrorists during the security plan in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces.
As for the displaced Iraqi families which left their homes by the violence and sectarian strife, Maliki said that a total of 6,000 families returned to their homes in the capital.He also confirmed that national reconciliation is going forward and that his government will "take Iraq to safe shore.
