Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki yesterday reversed a decision to withdraw troops from tense cities in Anbar province, and will instead deploy reinforcements

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki yesterday reversed a decision to withdraw troops from tense cities in Anbar province, and will instead deploy reinforcements, state television reported.

“We will not withdraw the army” and “we will send additional forces”, it quoted Maliki as saying in response to what it said were requests from residents and the government of the province west of Baghdad.

Maliki had announced on Tuesday that soldiers would withdraw from Anbar cities and hand over control to local police, in an apparent bid to calm tensions that broke out between security forces and militants as the camp near the provincial capital of Ramadi was closed on Monday.

More than a dozen people have died in the fighting, which continued for a third day yesterday. Militants freed more than 100 prisoners, clashed with security forces and burned police stations, police said.

In Ramadi, security forces clashed sporadically with militants, who burned four police stations in the city, an AFP journalist said. The journalist saw four torched police stations in Ramadi, one of which was still on fire, and said two military vehicles had also been burned.