BAGHDAD, July 2: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw vowed here on Wednesday that forces behind deadly attacks would be “dealt with” and promised a quick handover of authority to the Iraqi people.

“This action against the coalition won’t succeed and will be dealt with,” Mr Straw said after talks with US overseer Paul Bremer, during a surprise visit to Baghdad.

It was Mr Straw’s first visit to Iraq since the ouster of Saddam Hussein by the US-British forces on April 9.

The BBC said that after landing at Baghdad airport Straw was flown by US military helicopter to the centre of the city to avoid the dangerous airport road, where several ambushes of US convoys have occurred.

“I can say the military commanders in Basra are determined to see this happen (catch the assailants),” Straw told reporters, hours after meeting the British troops commander in Basra.

“I gave a personal undertaking to some of the comrades of the ex-military policemen who had fallen to do just that,” he added.

Mr Straw had earlier told the BCC that “the terrorists, the remnants of the Baathists in Fallujah (west of Baghdad), on the ground, are making a terrible mistake if they think that we’re going to run away from this.”

“That’s not the way the British forces operate, nor I may say the way the American forces operate,” he warned.

The foreign secretary also said at the press conference the coalition was working toward allowing the Iraqi people to assume responsibility for ruling their own country — a demand by Iraqis from across the political spectrum.—AFP