WASHINGTON, March 17: The US military expects to have turned control over 75 per cent of Iraq to Iraqi security forces by the end of the summer, a top commander said on Thursday.

Lt Gen Peter Chiarelli, commander of the Multi-National Forces-Iraq, praised the performance of the Iraqi army during the recent bout of sectarian violence and said it was well trained for warfare.

Despite a heightened threat of civil war, Gen Chiarelli said “battlespace” was being turned over to Iraqi army units at such a rate that it is “hard for me even to keep track of on a daily basis.”

“To the point where by this summer about 75 percent of Iraq — that battlespace will be owned by Iraqi units,” he said, adding later that he meant by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer.

That would put the transfer of security from US-led forces to Iraqis well ahead of President George Bush’s stated goal of having most of the country under Iraqi security forces by the end of the year.

The handover to Iraqis is key to US hopes for a significant reduction in the 133,000-strong US force this year, possibly to 100,000.

Gen John Abizaid, the commander of US forces in the Middle East, said Thursday he expects the downward trend in US force levels to continue despite heightened tensions in the wake of a bombing of Shiite shrine February 22.

“We’re finding Iraqi units with our support can be used in about any operation we do in a counter-insurgency role,” Chiarelli told reporters at the Pentagon via a video-link from Baghdad.

“And this is a force we have built, and the Iraqis have built for that counter-insurgency fight,” he said.

“And I think they are particularly well prepared, well trained and have the ability to do that, both in the cities and as you saw in Swarmer out in the middle of the desert.”—AFP