SAMARRA/BAGHDAD: US combat forces will vacate all Iraqi cities on schedule by the end of this month, the commander of US forces in Iraq told Reuters yesterday, including the still violent insurgent holdout of Mosul.

US combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq’s towns and cities by June 30 and redeploy to bases outside, according to a security pact that took effect in January.

But some US and Iraqi officials had suggested this might have to be delayed for Mosul, which is still plagued by Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups, who stage frequent attacks.

Asked whether US combat forces were on track for a total pullout from all cities, including Mosul, army Gen. Ray Odierno said: “We are. We have done a joint assessment... We have finalized that.” “We will come out of the cities. We will provide some trainers and advisers, LNOs (liason officers)... inside of Mosul... but that’ll be it,” he said.

Odierno had previously not ruled out staying on in Mosul if the Iraqi government requested help to fight insurgents. An American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb that struck his patrol in eastern Baghdad, the US Army said yesterday.

He was the first American military casualty in June after 25 US troops died May, the highest US military death toll in Iraq for eight months.

No further details were provided in the US statement.

Iraq’s Cabinet has approved a draft law to let some British forces stay on in Iraq for a year longer in training and support missions.

Government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh says the measure would allow 100 British troops to remain at the southern Umm Qasr port, mainly to train the Iraqi Navy to defend oil platforms in the Gulf.

Iraq’s Parliament still needs to approve the draft.

Al-Dabbagh says the year referred to would start after parliament approves the law.

British forces have ended combat operation in Iraq and have begun shipping out the 4,000 troops based mainly in the area around the southern city of Basra.

British commanders have said they would leave some troops behind. The draft is a step toward formalizing an agreement on this.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency said yesterday Iraq remains too fragile to absorb the 1.5 million Iraqis still living outside its borders and any forced repatriation of refugees would place individuals at risk.

“While overall security conditions are improving, they are not yet sustainable enough to have encouraged massive returns of Iraqis,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news conference in Geneva, where it has its headquarters. While some returns had already taken place, Redmond said, many of them had not been safe or sustainable.

“It is UNHCR’s opinion that Iraqis should not be forced back, which would be detrimental to the safety of those concerned and would negatively affect the fragile absorption capacity of the country.”

Iraq is not prepared for the large-scale return of refugees in Syria, Jordan and elsewhere, let alone the 2 million Iraqis sheltering in other parts of the country to escape violence in their villages, Redmond said.