"It seems best to take a temporary break from this exercise as we did after operation Desert Storm," an embassy spokesman told AFP, quoting a statement from the US Defense Department and referring to the 1991 Gulf War.

"This was an extremely difficult decision given our current worldwide commitment," the embassy quoted the department as saying.

Western diplomatic sources said the US withdrawal would effectively cancel this year's Bright Star multinational exercises, scheduled for September, financed in part by the United States.

In March, the United States led a coalition force which ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

The last Bright Star exercises, which take place every other year, were held in October 2001 near El-Alamein in northeast Egypt, scene of one of the fiercest battles in World War II, with around 65,000 soldiers and heavy equipment.

The annual exercises have become one of the world's largest multinational military manoeuvres.

In 2001, 18,000 US soldiers participated alongside 40,000 Egyptian and 1,100 French soldiers, as well as troops from Italy and eight other countries.

Despite the US-led war in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States made no changes to its involvement in the last exercises, apart from withdrawing the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.

WAR.WIRE