By Prensa Latina,
London : British troops will begin withdrawing from Iraq in March, 2009, according to Defense Ministry sources quoted by local media on Wednesday.
The BBC, The Guardian and several Britain´s newspaper said the pullout of the 4,100 British troops deployed mostly in the Iraqi city of Basra will conclude by June.
American troops will replace the departing British units at their base outside Basra, in southern Iraq, where only a small training force of 300 to 400 British soldiers will remain.
Over 45,000 British soldiers enrolled in the March 2003 US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.
According to official statistics, 177 British troops have died in Iraq so far, while another 126 have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.