UK hands control of Basra to Iraq forces
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BASRA, Iraq  - Britain handed over security in Basra province to Iraqi forces on Sunday, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq.
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THE US had asked Britain to redeploy troops stationed in the UK-controlled zone in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence confirmed today.
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LONDON, Sept. 3 -- British troops completed a withdrawal from downtown Basra on Monday, moving to an airport outside the city, their last base in Iraq. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the move part of a British strategy to shift from combat to an "overwatch" role.
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British forces formally handed over responsibility for the last region in Iraq under their control.
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Iraq formally took security control of the southern oil province of Basra from British forces on Sunday, paving the way for Britain to sharply reduce its nearly 5,000-strong troop presence.
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Britain welcomed Tuesday an announcement that Iraqi forces will take over the southern province of Basra, currently under the security control of around 5,200 British troops, in mid-December.
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UK forces are to hand back control of security in Basra province to Iraq, four-and-a-half years after the invasion.
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Iraqi forces are due to take control of a second province in the south of the country from UK and Italian troops.
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Britain put Iraqis in command of the main Iraqi army unit in Basra on Tuesday, a move billed as paving the way for Washington's main ally to formally announce major cutbacks in troops.
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BASRA, Iraq  - As British forces prepare to pull out of their last base inside Basra, Iraq's security forces face their biggest test yet -- stopping the country's oil centre from becoming a battleground for rival Shi'ite militias.
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BASRA, Iraq  - British troops quit the Iraqi city of Basra on Monday, leaving the southern oil hub without British forces for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
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The UK may transfer control of Basra to the Iraqi forces next spring, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett says.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed with Iraq&#039;s new leadership Monday that Iraqi security forces would start assuming full responsibility for some provinces and cities next month, beginning a process leading to the eventual withdrawal of all coalition forces.
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Britain put Iraqis in command of the  main Iraqi army unit in Basra on Tuesday, a move billed as  paving the way for Washington's main ally to formally announce  major cutbacks in troops.
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US and Iraqi forces announced they seized control of the Iraqi city Samarra on Saturday, after engaging in fierce battles with anti-occupation fighters.
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Iraq said on Monday it will take over   security control of a second of its 18 provinces this week in   the relatively calm British and Italian-patrolled south.
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British troops are pulling out of a base  at a palace in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday, a  British Ministry of Defense source said.