El Salvador to reduce size of force in Iraq
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SAN SALVADOR — President Tony Saca said Saturday that his nation would send a fresh contingent of troops to Iraq in August, but fewer than the 380 now there.
El Salvador is the only Latin American nation still part of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have withdrawn troops.
Saca did not say how many troops would be in the new contingent. Local media reports said it could be about 300.
Five Salvadoran troops have been killed in Iraq and more than 20 others injured since August 2003, when the country first sent forces.
The conservative Saca, one of Washington’s strongest allies in the region, has said the Salvadoran troops are aiding Iraq just as other nations helped the Central American nation reach peace accords in 1992 that ended a dozen years of civil war.
In May, Saca paid a surprise visit to his country’s troops in Iraq and later pronounced them in good health and high spirits.
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