BAGHDAD, May 19: British Prime Minister Tony Blair made one last visit to Iraq before leaving office next month, promising Iraq’s leaders on Saturday that they can count on British support even as explosions hit the British embassy compound just before they met there, security officials said.

The blasts underscored the violence that continues to plague the country. The barrage wounded one person, said US embassy spokesman Lou Fintor.

When Mr Blair visited British forces in southern Iraq later in the day, two mortar rounds exploded nearby, causing no injuries, British military officials said. Blair appeared unflustered by the attacks and shrugged his shoulders to waiting journalists.

Mr Blair, who was on his seventh visit here, said he believed security was improving, but acknowledged that shelling and bombings were still a daily part of life.

“Every time there is an attempt to make progress, of course the terrorists redouble their efforts, and our response should not be then to walk away or to give in. It should be to stand up to them. Because they don’t represent the true will of the Iraqi people,” he said.

Standing with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at a news conference, Mr Blair appeared irritated at repeated questions about the high levels of violence here.

Mr Blair said the next British government, which will be headed by the current Treasury chief Gordon Brown, will continue to support Iraq after Mr Blair leaves office in June.

“The policy that I pursued is a policy for the whole of the government, so even when I leave office I am sure that that steadfast support will continue,” he said.

Mr Blair said he urged the two Iraqi leaders to speed up reconciliation between Iraq’s divided communities by calling new provincial elections and increasing efforts to bring tribal leaders and others linked to violence into the political process.

Mr Al-Maliki said the government had made huge strides in fighting the insurgents.

“What they (insurgents) are doing now is nothing compared to what they had planned for the destruction of the political process in Iraq,” he said.

Mr Blair, whose premiership has been dominated by his unpopular decision to join the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam, arrived in Iraq via Kuwait, following talks in Washington with President George W. Bush on Thursday.

After his brief visit to the Green Zone on Saturday, Mr Blair flew to Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.

At coalition headquarters in Basra airport, he chatted and shared a cup of tea with British, US, Danish and Australian troops.

Mr Blair told the troops it would be his final opportunity to thank them for their bravery and said their work in Iraq against al-Qaeda terrorists, insurgents and Iranian-backed militias was critical to global security.

“If we don't sort this region out, then there is a very troubled and difficult future for the world ahead of us,” Mr Blair said, as he addressed several hundred troops in Basra.

One British marine asked him how long he expected US forces to remain in Iraq.

“I think the Americans will be here, at least in a limited capacity, for a very significant period of time,” Mr Blair said.

Britain has almost completed the process of pulling about 1,600 troops out of Iraq, leaving a force of around 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of Basra.

Troop levels are likely to fall below 5,000 in late summer, but Mr Blair has said British soldiers will stay in the Basra region until at least 2008 to train local forces, patrol the Iran-Iraq border and secure supply routes.

In an emotional resignation speech to members of his Labour party last week, Mr Blair acknowledged violence directed at civilians and coalition troops in Iraq has been “fierce and unrelenting and costly.”

A mounting military death toll--148 British troops have died in Iraq since the start of the 2003 invasion--has led some Britons to call for Mr Brown to speed up the withdrawal of British soldiers and to cool relations with Mr Bush.

Mr Brown said last Sunday that Britain was “a divided country over Iraq,” but claimed most citizens accepted that it is in their interests to support Mr al-Maliki’s administration.—AP