BRITAIN is planning to hand over responsibility for an Iraqi province to the Baghdad Government next week in a ceremony that many hope will mark the beginning of the end of the presence of foreign forces in the country.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi National Security Adviser, told The Times that the province of Muthana, a large, mainly desert stretch of territory bordering Saudi Arabia, would come under the control of the Iraqi Army and police within days. They will take over the duties of about 170 British and 550 Australian troops and 600 Japanese engineers. The handover is expected to take place a week from today.

Muthana and the regional capital of Samawah have been relatively quiet by Iraqi standards, and the transfer to the authorities in Baghdad is seen as an important test case. Mr al-Rubaie said that there was “a rough timeline” for the withdrawal of foreign forces from all 18 Iraqi provinces, but that a final decision was conditional on the level of security and the ability of the Iraqis to take control. After Muthana, the British would like to hand over the southern province of Maysan, and the Italians have said that they want their forces out of neighbouring Dhiqar province this year. The three stable Kurdish provinces in the north could follow. The Americans have earmarked three provinces south of Baghdad, in the Shia Muslim heartland.

Tony Blair told the Commons yesterday that he hoped to “draw down significant numbers” of the present force of 7,200 British troops in Iraq over the next 18 months. The Americans are also hoping to reduce their force of 127,000 by about a fifth.

Mr al-Rubaie predicted that security would improve over time, particularly with the launch of the Government’s reconciliation plan to bring insurgent groups into the political process. However, he said that foreign troops would probably be needed for the foreseeable future, until security improved and Iraqi forces grew stronger. He said: “The multinational forces must be there over the horizon in case Iraqi security forces get overwhelmed by a security threat so they can call for help.”

Certainly, there no evidence that the violence in central Iraq, and especially in Baghdad, is abating. Yesterday the central mortuary in the capital reported that it received 1,595 bodies last month, many of them with gunshots to the head.

The monthly death toll is the highest since February, when the bombing of a Shia religious shrine sparked a wave of sectarian violence.

Abdul Razzaq al-Obaidi, the assistant manager of the mortuary, noted that the total for June was higher than the 1,375 bodies received in May and the 1,155 in April.

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