Close U.S. ally El Salvador has agreed to keep its troops in Iraq for at least another year, its government said on Friday according to Reuters. El Salvador is one of a dwindling number of countries with troops deployed in the U.S-led war in Iraq, and its involvement is symbolically important for Washington as the war is deeply unpopular in Latin America. Salvadoran legislator Norman Quijano, of the right-wing ruling party Arena, said Congress had voted late on Thursday to send a fifth contingent of soldiers to Iraq in August, with a troop rotation in February. The Central American country has 380 soldiers taking part in the war and suffered one fatality and 12 injuries in a clash with Iraqi insurgents in 2004. Previous Salvadoran contingents have been based in the Iraqi towns of Najaf and Hilla. El Salvador is the only Latin American country with troops in Iraq after Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic pulled their forces out. The United States backed El Salvador's government in a 12-year civil war against leftist rebels that ended in 1992.
