Denmark evacuates Iraqi aides ahead of withdrawal

Denmark has secretly evacuated about 200 Iraqi civilians from southern Iraq under an asylum agreement offered to interpreters and aides who worked for Danish troops, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday. The last of three Danish military flights carrying the Iraqi aides and their families took off before dawn Friday from the southern city of Basra, ministry spokeswoman Jacob Winther told The Associated Press. The flights were kept secret because of fears that militants would try to attack the planes.