Basra's residents expressed pride and satisfaction today at the news that the British troops had slipped out of the city overnight after more than four years of occupation, and most gave credit to the Mahdi Army militia for having driven them out.

But some feared that the decision to withraw the last UK battle group in the city from their base at Basra Palace would remove any remaining restraints on Basra's warring militias and unleash more killings and kidnappings.

Major-General Mohan al-Firaji, commander of Iraqi security operations in Basra, set the tone with an early morning press conference in which he declared: “We have control of the palace. We are in charge now, and the army has orders to allow no-one inside until the Prime Minister decides what to do with it.”

The highly symbolic pullout began at around 10pm local time last night, when residents reported seeing a convoy of tanks, Land Rovers and armoured personnel carriers headed towards the main UK at Basra airport, where the 500-strong 4th Battalion The Rifles joined the other 5,000 UK troops still in Iraq.

Expert View

The Iranians will see the withdrawal as a huge victory. They will regard the British pull-out as a retreat and rightly feel it is a vindication of their policy of encouraging Shia militias against American and British forces.

Richard Beeston

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Full control of Basra Palace was handed over to the Iraqi army shortly before 1am. Major Mike Shearer, the British spokesman in the southern city, said: “I can confirm that at 2200 local Iraqi time last night multinational forces based at the continuing operating base started to secure the route for the repositioning of troops from Basra Palace.

“At just before 1am local Iraqi time this morning, a bugler from Four Rifles sounded the advance. The Four Rifles Basra city battle group started to extract from Basra Palace. There were no major incidents during the operation and all troops were back at the continuing operating base by midday today Iraqi time.”

The British withdrawal was the top story on all the Iraqi television stations, with pictures of British Bulldog armoured personnel carriers heading towards the airport base, Iraqi soldiers walking through the palace’s empty halls, and Iraqi flags flying above its many gates and roofs.

Iraqi troops and police flooded the streets and erected checkpoints in a determined effort to show that they could maintain order.

Abu Ahmad, 36, an aide in the Basra office of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who controls the Mahdi army, told The Times: "This victory happened with the help of Allah and all those who gave their lives to achieve this goal, the nightly attacks on the palace with mortars and shells, under Moqtada's leadership."

Many inhabitants of Basra agreed. "The withdrawal of British forces was a success for the Mahdi army and a victory for the people of Basra. It is time to start a new chapter and rebuild our city," said Zuher Abid Ali, 41, an engineer.

"We're very happy because there are no more (foreign) troops in Basra," added Sami Ahmed, 31, a shopkeeper. "The militias forced British troops to leave."

The decision to pull out and hand over control was taken with the backing of the US and other coalition forces and in consultation with the Iraqi Government, the Ministry of Defence said - contradicting reports that US commanders had been "surprised" by the move.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, denied that the British troops had withdrawn in “defeat” and insisted the move to Basra Air Station was an “organised one”.

He said UK forces in the area would retain the capacity to intervene in support of the Iraqi army, and would do so in “certain circumstances”. The move was part of a transition for British troops throughout Iraq to an “overwatch role”, he added.

Mr Brown has resisted pressure to announce a timetable for the complete withdrawal of UK troops from Iraq - but has refused to do so, but today's pull-out from Basra Palace will fuel speculation that a large-scale withdrawal is imminent.

On the streets of Basra, some residents expressed concern about their future security in a city where three militias are battling for supremacy and control of Basra's huge oil revenues.

“The British withdrawal with all the militias and corrupt police in Basra is very dangerous for the city. We should have more trust in the Iraqi security forces before the British left,” said Kathum Jawad, 34, a doctor. “I can’t feel safe any more and I think the militias will start looting and kidnapping and killing without any forces to stop them.”

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