WASHINGTON – The home flights of approximately 8,000 U.S. troops in Iraq who were scheduled to come home in January are being delayed by seven to 10 days, Pentagon officials announced Friday.

But no Maine troops are affected by the delays.

The troops who are having their return trips delayed by at least a week are all from active-duty units, said Lawrence Di Rita, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who approved the tour extensions Thursday night.

“The 152nd [Maintenance Company from Maine] left in April and isn’t scheduled to return until April,” Maj. Michael Backus, Maine Army National Guard spokesman, said Friday.

The 114 members of the 152nd are deployed in Iraq. The maintenance company is headquartered in Augusta but has members from around the state with detachments in Bangor and Limestone.

The delayed troops will be held beyond their scheduled one-year tours of duty in Iraq in order to avoid a handoff to their replacements during the immediate aftermath of the election that is scheduled to be held in December, Di Rita said.

Thus far the only extra U.S. forces being sent to Iraq in advance of the October constitutional referendum and the December election are two battalions totaling about 1,500 soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division of Fort Bragg, N.C.