By Fu Yiming, Gao Shan

Iraqi towns and cities aren't quiet as both Baghdad and Washington had expected when the withdrawal of US combat troops from the cities and towns is imminent.

A military vehicle runs in the street of Baghdad, capital of Iraq, on June 28, 2009. As the deadline, June 30, for the US troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities is approaching, bomb attacks frequent these days in Baghdad. The US-Iraqi troops raised the security alert level here to assure the stability here for US troops to withdraw smoothly. [Gao Shan/Xinhua]

Cities and towns are well poised to celebrate their "milestone moment", instead of being shaken and chilled by a series of deadly blasts that claimed more than 200 lives just a week ahead of US troops withdrawal.

June 30 is the deadline for US combat troops to leave Iraqi towns and cities, as stipulated in Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) sighed at the end of last year between Washington and Baghdad, and all combat troops from Iraq in August 2010 and all US soldiers no later than 2011.

Roughly, there are still 131,000 US soldiers in Iraq, including around 12 combat brigades, and the number is not expected to drop dramatically before the Iraqi parliamentary elections in January next year. But according to US and Iraq governments, the mission of the remaining American troops is shifting from combat to training and advising.

Clearly, it is still too early to judge whether a bless or a curse it would be.

Just as Laith Mohammed Ali, a local producer and cameraman puts it, more than six years from its invasion, US troops withdrawal at a time when Iraq remains a chaotic and unstable forefront, "resembles extracting the critical knife Washington stabbed into Iraqis' chest."

Americans' intention is clear: step back wisely under mounting domestic and international criticism while pulling the strings behind the scene to assure its strategic interests the war was for.

But Iraq is facing somewhat of a dilemma: "abrupt extraction means instant death, as the country could once again get into scenes of blood of innocence; whereas, to leave it as it was hinders Iraqis' national pride to seek true sovereignty and democracy.

Consequently, the endeavor of extracting the knife, if successfully, then healing the wounds, would inevitably be harsh and enduring.

Al-Qaida: "Catch me if you can"

The week ahead of the pullout deadline, Iraq witnessed a series of deadly explosions, starting from the most fatal incident this year, in which a truck bomb killed 73 people in the northern city of Kirkuk last Saturday.

US soldiers and Iraqi soldiers patrol in the street of Baghdad, capital of Iraq, on June 28, 2009. As the deadline, June 30, for the US troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities is approaching, bomb attacks frequent these days in Baghdad. The US-Iraqi troops raised the security alert level here to assure the stability here for US troops to withdraw smoothly. [Gao Shan/Xinhua]

Iraqi officials said the attacks aimed at reigniting sectarian warfare that raged for years between Iraq's once dominant Sunni Muslims and majority Shiites.