British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday that his country would reduce its troops in Iraq to 2,500 by spring 2008.

 

 

"We plan for next spring to reduce force numbers in southern Iraq to a figure of 2,500," Brown said in a statement in the House of Commons.

 

Brown said that the "first stage" of troop withdrawals had begun with the Iraqis already assuming greater security responsibility.

 

Britain expected to "establish provincial Iraqi control in Basra province in the next two months as announced by the Prime Minister of Iraq," and to "move to the first stage of overwatch," said Brown.

 

Britain would "reduce numbers in southern Iraq from 5,500 at the start of September to 4,500... and then to 4,000," Brown said.

 

"In the second stage of overwatch, from the spring -- and guided as always by the advice of our military commanders -- (we will) reduce to around 2,500 troops, with a further decision about the next phase made then," said Brown.

 

"In both stages of overwatch around 500 logistics and support personnel will be based outside Iraq elsewhere in the region," added Brown.

 

Brown also stressed that all the decisions "must be made on the basis of the assessments of our military commanders and actual conditions on the ground."

 

"As a result of the progress made in southern Iraq, US, UK and Iraqi commanders judged over the last 15 months that three out of the four provinces in the UK's area of control in southern Iraq were suitable for transition back to the Iraqis --- and these have subsequently been transferred to Iraqi control," said Brown.

 

"The next important stage in delivering our strategy to hand over security to the Iraqis is to move from a combat role in the rest of Basra province to overwatch which will itself have two distinct stages," he said.

 

"In the first, the British forces that remain in Iraq will have the following tasks: training and mentoring the Iraqi army and police force; securing supply routes and policing the Iran-Iraq border; and the ability to come to the assistance of the Iraqi security forces when called upon," said Brown.

 

"Then, in the spring of next year... we plan to move to a second stage of overwatch where the coalition would maintain a more limited re-intervention capacity and where the main focus will be on training and mentoring," said Brown.

 

He insisted that Britain would achieve its "long term aim of handing over security to the Iraqi armed forces and police, honoring our obligations to the Iraqi people and to their security, and ensuring the safety of our forces."

 

"As I have made clear, we have made commitments to the Iraqi people, through the United Nations, and we will honor these obligations," said Brown.

 

"We will continue to be actively engaged in Iraq's political and economic development. We will continue to assist the Iraqi government and its security forces to help build their capabilities - military, civilian and economic - so that they can take full responsibility for the security of their own country," he added.

 

Britain, the staunchest US ally in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has the second largest number of troops, following the US, deployed in the war-torn country. Since 2003, about 170 British soldiers have died in Iraq.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2007)