Salvador's outgoing President Francisco Flores said on Friday that his country's troops will stay in Iraq till June 1 when they finish their mission, and afterthat the new government will make decision on the issue.

Flores will hand over power to elected President Elias Antonio Saca of the right-wing ruling Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). The 39-year-old media businessman won the presidential election on March 21.

Flores considered that the decision of sending a contingent to Iraq should be made by the president, and after June 1 it will be decided by the new leader.

In February, El Salvador sent 380 soldiers to Iraq to replace acontingent of 360 troops who had worked for six months in southernNajaf as part of the then Spanish-led Plus Ultra Brigade.

It is the only country in the Plus Ultra Brigade that decided to stay on in Iraq after Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced in April that his country would withdraw its troops from Iraq and the Honduran and Dominican governments decided to follow suit.

Source: Xinhua