By Paul Tait

BAGHDAD, Sept 16 (Reuters) - U.S. forces are training about 16,000 Iraqis in volatile areas south of Baghdad to join security forces in plans similar to a successful Sunni Arab model to the west, a U.S. general said on Sunday.

The 16,000 "concerned citizens" were mainly Sunni Arabs with connections to tribes in the desert province of Anbar, where local police units have fought al Qaeda militants in one of the country's few security success stories.

"Everybody wants to tie it to the 'flipping' of the al Anbar tribes. Yes, it is an extension of it but we believe there (is) a significant al Qaeda threat," Brigadier-General James Huggins, deputy commander of manoeuvres in the area, told reporters.

The Anbar model, formed around the Anbar Salvation Council, was set up a year ago by Sunni Arab tribal leaders tired of indiscriminate killings by Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and its harsh interpretation of Islam.

Anbar, once the most dangerous area in Iraq, is now relatively safe after local tribal leaders organised young men to join local police units to combat al Qaeda in Iraq.

Huggins said the 16,000 represented 33 groups in an area that included the al Qaeda stronghold called the "triangle of death". While dominated by Sunni Arabs, it comprises five Shi'ite sheikhs in the holy city of Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) southwest of Baghdad.

Many of the groups are volunteers, but commanders have signed security and infrastructure contracts with local sheiks.

"I pay a sheikh and he is responsible for that piece of ground," said Lieutenant-Colonel John Kolasheski.

The Anbar council's leader, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, was killed last week in a bombing claimed by an al Qaeda-led group.

U.S. President George W. Bush said last week Anbar was an example of improved security that showed his strategy was working and would allow for limited troop withdrawals by July.

It was praised by General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and ambassador Ryan Crocker during two days of testimony to Congress last week.

Huggins said local Iraqis had come forward over the past three months after a "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops this year had helped improve security in Iraq.

"Now the people that live in the villages that we live with ... have taken a very, very active role in trying to secure themselves, their villages," Huggins said.

He said the groups, which are not given arms, receive police training but it does not include "offensive operations".

While most were concerned with combating al Qaeda, some were also guarding against Shi'ite militias blamed for violence in the "beltways" south and east of Baghdad.

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