U.S. transfers security to Iraq in Shi'ite south

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NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. forces ceded control of southern Najaf province to Iraqi police and soldiers, who marked the occasion yesterday with a parade and martial-arts demonstrations.

In Baghdad, police found 76 bodies, some of them blindfolded and handcuffed. Many of the victims had been shot, and some showed signs of torture, a police officer said on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons. Also, two suicide car bombings killed at least 19 persons in the capital.

The handover of Najaf came as new Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited Baghdad, seeking advice from top commanders on a new strategy.

Roadside bombs killed two U.S. troops, one in Baghdad and the other southwest of the capital.

Home to 930,000 people, Najaf saw heavy fighting two years ago but has been relatively peaceful lately. It was the third of Iraq's 18 provinces to come under local control.

British troops handed over southern Muthana province in July, and the Italian military transferred neighboring Dhi Qar in September.

Authorities in Najaf city banned vehicles as provincial and tribal leaders and dignitaries gathered in the dusty, blue bleachers of a soccer stadium for the handover ceremony.

About 1,500 police officers, soldiers and security personnel staged a parade around an infield of stubby brown grass, in festivities complete with warriors on horseback.

At one point, a small group of soldiers bit into a live rabbit and frogs as a traditional display of ferocity for elite troops in Iraq.

Police then steered shiny new cruisers and motorcycles with ribbons and flowers stuck to their windshields around a track ringing the soccer field.