Basra 'will be handed over to Iraqis by end of year'

Basra should be handed over to Iraqi control by the end of the year, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the head of Britain's armed forces, has predicted.

The Chief of Defence Staff said he expected a decision to be taken in the next couple of months. "We are very close to being able to hand over Basra in my judgement," he said. "Just when we will reach that point is at the moment uncertain but I am fairly confident it'll be in the second half of the year."

The number of British troops in Iraq has been cut from 7,000 to 5,500 this year and is due by a further 500 when the Army leaves a base in central Basra shortly.

The exit timetable is expected to be discussed by George Bush and Gordon Brown when they hold talks at the President's Camp David retreat this weekend. The Bush administration is under mounting domestic pressure over Iraq but a decision on its next moves may be delayed until a review of its troop "surge" in the Baghdad area is completed in September.

The talks will be their first face-to-face meeting since Mr Brown became Prime Minister a month ago, although they met briefly at the White House in April and have spoken by telephone since Mr Brown succeeded Tony Blair.

Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, said the "pretty broad" agenda was likely to include the US push to build a missile defence system in eastern Europe, as well as focusing on Iraq, Iran, Kosovo and Darfur. Despite fears in Washington that Mr Brown would distance himself from Mr Blair's "shoulder to shoulder" support for the Bush administration, Mr Snow said the two leaders had a "very special important relationship". Mr Brown is expected to reassure President Bush that he regards Britain's links with the US as its closest bilateral relationship.

Sir Jock insisted the military operation in the south of Iraq had been a success but conceded some people might find that hard to believe. "Our mission was to get the place and the people to a state where the Iraqis could run that part of their country if they chose to and we are very nearly there," he told the BBC. "Our mission was not to make the place look like somewhere green and peaceful," he said.

He called on other countries to shoulder more of the burden in Afghanistan. He said current operations were straining the resources of British forces but reductions in troop numbers in Iraq and elsewhere were easing the problem.

"We are very stretched because just at the moment we are doing more than we are structured or resourced to do in the long term. We can do that in the short term; we can surge to that degree. But sooner or later we have to get back into balance. And the longer it takes to get back into balance, then the longer the recovery time becomes," he said.

"Having said that, of course, we are now on a downward path in terms of operational tempo. We've removed our combat troops from Bosnia, and as you've seen - we've actually reduced our force levels in Iraq." He said he was "delighted" that the Government had given the go-ahead for two new aircraft carriers. "They are important to the future defence and security policy of the United Kingdom so that's very good news," he said.

A parked car bomb exploded near a market in a predominantly Shia area of Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 70, police said.

Smoke billowed into the sky and fires burnt on the ground after the thunderous explosion, which occurred as the market in Karradah was packed with shoppers. Nine cars were destroyed and a three-storey building was set on on fire, according to police and hospital officials.

It was the deadliest in a series of attacks that has left more than 40 people dead nationwide.

The US military said five American troops had died in fighting this week - four north-east of the capital and one in Baghdad.