LONDON, Jan 5: British troops are likely to remain in Iraq for several more years to prevent a "security vacuum" after the planned July 1 transfer of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi governing council , Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Monday.

Speaking on BBC radio a day after a surprise visit to Iraq by Prime Minister Tony Blair, Straw said he could not give an "exact timescale" for the withdrawal of British forces.

"I can't say whether it is going to be 2006, 2007," he said, adding that in any event, "it is not going to be months". Speaking to several hundred British troops in the southern city of Basra on Sunday, Blair did not say how long they would have to remain in the country they invaded alongside the United States nearly 10 months ago.

But the Guardian newspaper said he "made plain in private discussions with military commanders" that the number of British troops in Iraq was unlikely to drop "until well into 2005".

The Daily Telegraph said "several thousand British troops" would remain in Iraq at least until 2006. Britain now has 10,000 soldiers in Iraq, compared with the 40,000 who participated in the March 20 invasion alongside the United States that led to the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Straw said British forces - which occupy the oil-rich south of Iraq and the area's Gulf ports - were playing a vital role in ensuring stability and security in Iraq, as they had in Afghanistan.

"If we were suddenly to pull out, there would be unquestionably be a security vacuum that would not only put lives at risk and cause a loss of life, but would also be a setback for the political process," he said.

Though US forces to the north still come under almost daily attack, the British sector has been relatively stable, and there have been no British combat fatalities since October 31.

On his flight back to London on Sunday, Blair told reporters that the next six months were "very critical" in turning Iraq into a stable keystone of democracy in the Middle East.

"We have got to get on top of the security situation properly and we have got to manage the transition," he said. "Both of those things are going to be difficult."-AFP