Astana  - Kazakhstan has decided to pull its troops out of Iraq after five years of fighting alongside the US army, the Central Asian state's Defence Ministry said Tuesday.

Kazakhstan had deployed about 30 mine-clearing troops in Iraq a few months after the US-led invasion in the spring of 2003.

"At the request of the Iraqi government and in connection with the considerable stabilisation of conditions there, Kazakhstan's troops will come home," the ministry said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on a visit to the Kazakh capital of Astana earlier this month expressed "deep gratitude" for the country's efforts in Iraq. (dpa)