BAGHDAD, Jan 28 (AFP) - Britain should be able to start reducing troop numbers in Iraq this year, a senior British military officer said Friday.
The officer predicted that Britain would soon start handing over security to local forces and highlighted a push by the United States and Britain to train the Iraqi army to assume more responsibility.
US leaders have so far refused to set a timetable for a withdrawal of its 150,000 troops in Iraq.
But the officer was asked at a briefing in Baghdad whether he expected to see British numbers in Iraq start falling this year. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he replied: "I would, I would."
The officer did not give an estimate for how many troops could leave, however. He emphasized that an exit timetable would depend on security in the country, which is in the grip of an insurgency.
Britain currently has about 7,500 troops in Iraq, the officer said.
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced Thursday that Britain is to send an extra 220 troops to take over from Dutch forces in Al-Muthanna province.
The 1,400-strong Dutch contingent is being withdrawn in March.
The officer said Al-Muthanna was "a very good example of an area in Iraq where security forces have made huge progress during the course of the last year, where the security situation is much better, where we can draw down the troop levels of the coalition forces there and start the process of handing over the whole province for Iraqi security forces leadership."
He added that a similar process was working in other provinces.
The British-run sector in southeast Iraq was a good example of where Iraqi forces were "starting to take the lead".
"If you went into divisional headquarters you would find, in the next door office to the British commander, an Iraqi major general who has recently moved into that office," he said.
"And those two will be working together to obviously hand over the lead in the transition from coalition forces to Iraqi forces."
Reports have said that the United States and Britain plan to increase the number of military advisors and trainers in Iraq so they can cut their own troop levels.
The officer said the embedding of coalition forces with Iraqi units had started in almost every province. "Where this is going to be accelerated in the future is the number of trainers and the people that they are going to be training," he said.
Up to now training has focused on units, companies and battalions.
"There is going to be increased focus now on training up brigades and divisions, brigade and divisional headquarters, and their commanders so that those brigades and divisions can take over areas of responsibility themselves."
He said that handing over a province to an Iraqi division would "greatly increase the capability of the Iraqi security forces and speed up the process of Iraqi-isation."
According to the British defence ministry, 76 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair has been the strongest US ally in the war. But his decision to send troops to Iraq is very unpopular with the British public, according to opinion polls.
01/28/2005 19:21 GMT - AFP