Baghdad- Iraq's politicians have not reacted significantly to US President George W. Bush's announcement on Tuesday that he would withdraw 8,000 combat troops from the country by February next year.

One of the few to make a statement on the development, parliamentarian Osama al-Najafi, said drily on Wednesday that "We know that this is merely election propaganda for the (US) Republican Party."

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen killed an Iraqi Christian civilian in western Mosul on Wednesday, according to the Voices of Iraq news agency (VOI).

Baghdad - Iraq's health ministry announced Tuesday that 20 new cases of cholera have been reported in the province of Babel, raising fears an epidemic might break out.

The central Iraqi province, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, was placed on alert Monday after four people died of the disease.

"Laboratory reports from the Babel health department indicate there are 200 suspected cases of cholera," which is characterized by vomiting and diarrhoea, the provincial council said.

The council has ordered the water, electricity and health departments to go on alert in an effort to stop the spread of the disease, health ministry spokesman Ehsaan Jaafar said.

Baghdad - Influential Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi escaped an assassination attempt when a car bomb targeted his motorcade in western Baghdad, his office confirmed on Saturday.

The attack on the controversial Shiite politician occurred on Friday evening in the western Baghdad area of al-Mansour as Chalabi was returning to his residence.

The bomb killed two civilians and wounded 17 others.

Baghdad  - The Iraqi government warned Friday that its relationship with US intelligence agencies could be damaged if a report that the United States spied on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki was accurate.

"If it is true, it casts a shadow on the future relations with such institutions," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a reference to the CIA.

"It also reflects that institutions in the United States are used to spying on their friends and their enemies in the same way," he added.

Baghdad - Negotiations on a security agreement between Iraq and the United States regarding the future presence of US troops have been put on hold, the news agency Aswat al-Iraq reported Friday.

The agency quoted Vice President Tarek al-Hashimi, who said talks had been stopped "for a while." There still were serious differences, al-Hashimi said during a visit to the Baghdad Sunni suburb of Adhamija on Thursday night.