Britain to hand over control in Basra

Saying that Iraqi forces are now capable of dealing with the violence that persists in the south, Britain’s defense secretary said Wednesday that his government intended to hand over security for the area by mid-December.

Defense Secretary Des Browne acknowledged that sectarian power struggles and gangsterism continue in oil-rich Basra province, but said Iraqi forces were best able to address them now.

Browne, who spoke to reporters in Baghdad a day after reviewing the security situation in Basra, said he saw increasing evidence that Iraqi security forces, particularly the army but increasingly the police as well, were improving in their response to the infighting and violence.

“Unequivocally, I can see progress,” Browne said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced last month that his government, the main U.S. foreign partner in Iraq, would pull out half its remaining troops by June, leaving 2,500 soldiers stationed outside Basra.

Browne said that contingent would be adequate to fulfill its primary responsibility of guarding the lone British base and would be capable of providing support to Iraqi forces.

In meetings with Iraqi officials Wednesday, Browne pledged Britain’s continuing assistance in the economic development of the south.

Also Wednesday, Iraq’s foreign minister said Baghdad was holding indirect talks with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that would soon lead to the release of several Turkish soldiers the group seized in recent border clashes with Turkey. The PKK, fighting for autonomy for Kurds in Turkey, has bases in the far north of Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, made the comments after conferring with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki before this weekend’s regional security conference in Istanbul.

In contrast to the tension surrounding a visit to Baghdad by Turkey’s foreign minister, Ali Babacan, the atmosphere was cordial at a joint appearance after their talks. Both diplomats said the border disputes between Turkey and the PKK should not be allowed to destabilize the region.

Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded in the Alawi neighborhood near Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, killing one person and injuring four. The bodies of six unidentified victims of violence were found in the capital.

In the north, a policeman was killed and two others injured in an attack on a checkpoint about 12 miles south of the city of Kirkuk, police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir said.

Two Iraqi army soldiers were killed in Tuz Khurmatu, 110 miles north of Baghdad, when a bomb went off under their patrol vehicle, Qadir said.

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doug.smith@latimes.com

Times staff writers Saif Hameed and Raheem Salman contributed to this report.