Polish information television channel TNV24 said the US soldiers would take over in two-thirds of the zone administered by Poland the south of the country, which up to now has been controlled by Spanish and Latin American troops who are being pulled out of the country.

The provinces of Babylon, Karbala and Wasit will remain under Polish control, it said.

The size of the multinational division in the area will thus fall to 6,500 from the current 10,000 men, it said.

Poland, a key US ally in the Iraq, has up to now headed a 9,000-strong multinational force patrolling a large swathe of the centre and south of the country.

That force was badly dented last week, when Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered his country's troops to withdraw from Iraq "as soon as possible".

The announcement had a domino effect, with Honduras and the Dominican Republic then announcing they would follow suit and withdraw their respective 368 and 302 troops from the Polish-led force.

Once the withdrawals have taken place, the contingent will have lost more than a fifth of its headcount, or some 2,000 troops.

The Polish sector has been the scene of violent clashes for the past month -- the deadliest since the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein last year -- with a Bulgarian soldier dying earlier on Friday in the holy city of Karbala.

During an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov said that his country's troops would remain in Iraq despite the tense situation there, Poland's PAP news agency reported.

WAR.WIRE