Troops may leave Mosul by June 30 - U.S. general

* U.S. troops sweep Mosul neighborhoods

* Insurgency continues to wane - Odierno

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - The top U.S. commander in Iraq said on Friday that U.S. combat forces could be able to leave the violence-torn city of Mosul by a June 30 deadline for withdrawing American combat brigades from Iraqi cities.

Army General Ray Odierno said the final decision will be made late next month, after U.S. and Iraqi forces conclude neighborhood sweeps to clear militants from Mosul, the final stronghold for al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni groups.

U.S. military officials blame al Qaeda for a recent upswing in high-profile attacks, which they say are meant to return Iraq to the wholesale sectarian slaughter that followed al Qaeda's bombing of the al-Askari Shi'ite mosque in Samarra in 2006.

The rise in high-casualty attacks has stirred worries about the ability of Iraqi forces to impose security after June 30, when U.S. combat forces are expected to leave Iraq's cities under a bilateral agreement with Baghdad.

U.S. combat forces are due to leave Iraq by August 2010 under President Barack Obama's plan, and all U.S. troops would be out of the country by the start of 2012 under the U.S.-Iraqi agreement.

Odierno said a U.S.-Iraqi counterinsurgency operation has been under way in Mosul for 75 days.