THE phased pull-out of forces from Iraq began in earnest yesterday, raising hopes that hundreds of British troops may be home by Christmas under a new timetable for handover to Iraqi control.

However, the long-awaited move, announced by British and Iraqi ministers, was greeted with yet another day of barbaric violence in the country.

After a three-day search, US forces recovered the mutilated bodies of two captured American soldiers, who had been “slaughtered” by insurgents.

An internet statement claimed that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, al-Qaeda’s new commander in Iraq, had personally killed the two privates, Thomas Lowell Tucker and Kristian Menchaca.

The killings coincided with fresh warnings about the collapse of security in Basra, the headquarters of British forces in southern Iraq.

Lieutenant General Nick Houghton told the Commons Defence Committee that the situation in Iraq’s southern capital was deteriorating, with growing violence between rival militias. To prove the point a suicide bomber attacked a crowd of elderly and disabled people who had gathered to collect pensions, wounding five.

The bloodshed cast a shadow over what should have been a rare day of good news from Iraq, certainly for the 150,000 foreign forces deployed there.

After weeks of detailed talks between senior Iraqi, American, British and other coalition partners, a plan has been agreed that will enable foreign forces to transfer security to Iraqi troops in several provinces across the country by the end of 2006.

“I think by the end of this year there will be many places Iraqis can replace American, British and foreigners,” said President Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi leader, yesterday.

“Toward the end of the next year, there is the possibility to have all towns and cities in the hands of Iraqi forces and have coalition forces go to special bases outside the cities until we are able to tell them please go back home,” he told The Times.

His remarks echoed the views of Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, who predicted that the handover would be completed “over the next 12 to 18 months”. There are about 135,000 American troops in Iraq, with 7,200 British forces and several other smaller contributing nations.

The provinces earmarked for early handover include the three relatively peaceful Kurdish provinces in the north, three provinces in the Shia Muslim religious heartland south of Baghdad, and three provinces under British command in the south. Yesterday Japan set in motion the withdrawal process when Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese Prime Minister, announced that all 600 Japanese soldiers would be back home by mid-July after completing the handover of Muthana province in southern Iraq, where 170 British troops are based.

Speaking in London, Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, said that the next province for handover was Maysan, where about 800 British forces are located.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, predicted that the third would be Dhiqar, currently the HQ of Italian forces who have been ordered home by the end of the year.

Initially, most British troops would be redeployed within the country, probably as quick reaction forces, or used to beef up the British presence in Basra, where a new security plan will be announced today.

But there are hopes that in the coming months the British will be able to cut their presence with fewer soldiers needed for future deployments.

THE COALITION

USA 132,000
UK 8,000
South Korea 3,237
Italy 2,900
Poland 900
Australia 900
Georgia 900
Romania 860
Japan 600
Denmark 530

Source: The Brookings Institution Iraq Index

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