Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq     

    BAGHDAD, July 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S.-led Multi-National Forces (MNF) handed over on Wednesday the security responsibility of Qadisiyah province and its capital city of Diwaniyah to Iraqis, making it the tenth Iraqi province retrieved from the control of U.S.-led coalition forces.

    "This is the tenth province that security return to the control of the Iraqi security forces and we hope that we can have 18 provinces handed back to Iraqi control by the end of the year," Muwafaq al-Rubaie, the Iraqi National Security Advisor said in a televised hand over ceremony.

    "The hand over came due to the progress in the political process and the victories achieved by our troops in Basra, Maysan and Nineveh," Rubaie said, referring to the latest offensives conducted recently by the U.S.-backed Iraqi troops in several Iraqi provinces and in Baghdad.

    "We thank the multi-national forces for their contribution to the stability and security of this province," Rubaie said during the ceremony.

    Rubaie also called on provincial leaders and people in the province to work hand by hand to rebuild their province.

    "It is time now for the sons of the province to start a new page to rebuild your province and create new jobs so as to make your province the most prosperous among all other provinces in Iraq," he added.

    Rubaie was attending the ceremony on behalf of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, along with top provincial leaders and local MNF senior officials.

    For his part, U.S. military commander Lieut. Gen. Lloyd Austin said the province has made major security improvement in the past year, praising the provincial government for achieving the progress.

    The hand over ceremony was scheduled for June 30, but had been delayed due to bad weather that prevented U.S. and Iraqi officials from flying to the venue.

    During the past three months, the province, including its capital city of Diwaniyah, some 180 km south of Baghdad, has seen improvement in security situations after the U.S.-Iraqi conducted joint operations against Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

    The other Iraqi provinces handed over by U.S. forces to date are Maysan, Muthanna, Basra, Dhi Qar, Najaf, Karbala, and the three Kurdish provinces of Duhuk, Sulaimaniyah and Arbil.