BAGHDAD, Dec 17: Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday British troops would stay in Iraq “until the job is done” and pledged to support the country's weak government as it battles sectarian violence and a raging insurgency.

Just before Mr Blair landed in Baghdad for an unannounced visit, gunmen in police uniforms carried out a mass kidnapping at a Red Crescent office in the capital, highlighting Iraq's security challenges. Police said 10 to 20 people were seized but Red Crescent officials said more were snatched.

Mr Blair said he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had discussed the need for national reconciliation and building up Iraq's security forces to fight soaring sectarian violence.

“We stand ready to support you in every way that we can so that in time the Iraq government and the Iraqi people can take full responsibility for their affairs,” Blair, who is touring the Middle East, told a news conference.

Mr Blair defended London's plans for a gradual withdrawal of its 7,200 troops in the south, mostly in and around oil-rich Basra, as Iraq's fledgling security forces take over.

“This isn't a change of our policy,” he said. “Don't be under any doubt at all. British troops will remain until the job is done.”

Britain has transferred authority to Iraqis in two of the four southern provinces. It has said it is confident it can hand over Basra to the Iraqis early next year and hopes to have brought thousands of troops home by the end of 2007.

Mr Blair told reporters in Baghdad the bloodshed was being carried out by “Saddamists and terrorists” and appealed to Iraq's neighbours for help.

Meanwhile, the US military plans to speed up the training of Iraq's army by tripling its number of embedded trainers to about 9,000, while keeping a close eye on units' sectarian loyalties, US Brigadier General Dana Pittard said on Sunday.—Reuters

Six captives freed

BAGHDAD: Kidnappers have released six staffers of the Iraqi Red Crescent, the aid group's top official said. The six were elderly men who worked as guards or drivers at the Red Crescent office in the central Baghdad district of Karrada, said Mazen Abdallah, secretary general of the Iraqi Red Crescent.—AFP