U.S. says no surge in violence in Iraq guard transfer

By Missy Ryan

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fears that the U.S. military's handover of neighborhood guard units to Iraqi control would unleash a new wave of violence in Baghdad have so far proved unwarranted, the U.S. military said.

For weeks ahead of the transfer of responsibility for Baghdad's 51,000 neighborhood guards, leaders voiced fears they could be arrested or attacked by those in the government who harbor grudges against former enemies.

Many of the guards, grouped together in "Awakening Councils," are former Sunni insurgents seen as a threat by some within Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Kulmayer, a senior reconciliation official for U.S. forces in Iraq, said on Friday that there had been no spike in attacks or arrests since the October 1 handover.

"Another piece of sovereignty has returned to Iraq," Kulmayer, who helped oversee the transfer, said in an interview.

Maliki's government will command and pay the guards, who are credited with helping staunch bloodshed since they appeared in 2006 as a grassroots response to al Qaeda militants.

The transition to state control is seen as a test for Iraq, where violence has dropped to four year lows but political and sectarian reconciliation is proving more elusive.

Colin Kahl, an Iraq expert at Georgetown University, said Washington ran the risk of seeing Awakening leaders, who had risked their lives to take part in the U.S. project, supporting or simply tolerating insurgent activity if they felt they were not properly treated.