LONDON, Oct 22: Britain is “quite far down” the road towards transferring responsibility for security in Iraq to national security forces but British troops will only leave when the job is done, Defence Secretary Des Browne said on Sunday.

Browne’s comments came amid speculation of a possible change in US strategy in Iraq because of unrelenting violence there.

Asked if Britain could speed up its handover of security duties to Iraqi forces in the south of the country, Browne told Sky television that Britain had been moving towards transition to the Iraqi government for some months.

“We’re quite far down the process of transferring responsibility to the Iraqis ... We’ve handed over two of four provinces,” said Browne, who was speaking during a visit to Afghanistan.

Events in the southern town of Amara suggested Iraqi security forces were able to deal with their own security, Browne said.

Fierce battles between militia gunmen and police killed at least 25 people in Amara last week. Some 700 Iraqi troops helped restore calm to the town. British forces were on standby to intervene but were not needed.

Browne was quizzed about an estimate by Foreign Office minister Kim Howells in a BBC interview on Saturday that Iraqi soldiers and police officers would be ready to take over a lot of the work done by coalition troops within about a year.—Reuters