Below is an article published by Daily Times :

Iraqis will this year [2008] celebrate Ramazan as a victory over terrorism amid an overall drop in violence across the country, Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said on Sunday [31 August 2008].

Iraqi Sunnis will observe Ramazan from Monday [01 September 2008], to be followed a day later by Shias.

"Ramazan comes at a time when the Iraqis have earned the result of their patience and victory on terrorists, criminals and outlaws," Maliki said in a statement.

"The success of our forces to enforce the law is helping in the return of thousands of Iraqis to their country and homes. There is progress in security and peace," he added.

Meanwhile, Iraqi and United States troops were on alert on Sunday [31 August 2008] in Anbar, once the fiercest battleground in the war-torn country, as the American military prepared to transfer security control to local forces.

"Our forces are ready to take the security responsibility today [01 September 2008]," Majid Al Assafi, the new police chief of Anbar, told AFP. "They are controlling the situation. Our troops are on alert to avert any failure of the transfer," he said.

An AFP correspondent said the US military had stepped up patrols on the main streets of Ramadi, where markets were open as shoppers stocked up on goods a day before Sunnis begin fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramazan.

Locals, however, were mixed in their opinion over the transfer.

"We are happy that Iraqi forces will be in control now of the security rather than the foreign troops. That is how it should be. Iraqis should protect the Iraqis," said Ahmed Abdul Salam, 30.

Thar Mohammed, another Ramadi resident, was sceptical about the readiness of Iraqi forces.

"Our forces are not ready to take responsibility for the situation. I am sorry to say, but there is lot of corruption in our security forces," he told AFP.

Separately, a new flashpoint has emerged in the Iraqi government's tense relationship with minority Kurds as Kurdish and Iraqi government forces vie for control of an ethnically mixed town, Reuters quoted officials as saying on Sunday [31 August 2008].

"The Iraqi Army still wants to enter Khanaqin, and the (Kurdish) Peshmerga is present. Everyone is on edge," said Ibrahim Bajelani, a Kurd who heads the provincial council in the restive Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. […]