London, Jan 22, IRNA ,The reported huge drop in violence in Basra is due largely to the withdrawal of British troops from the southern Iraqi city, Defense Secretary Des Browne has admitted.
“It is due substantially to the fact that about 80 per cent of violence in Basra was directed at our troops when they were based there,” Browne said during defence questions in parliament on Monday.
The Defense Secretary was asked to account for the 90 per cent reduction in violence in the city quoted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week.
He said that there was still violence in Basra since the handing over of security to Iraqi authorities in December, but insisted that the local army and police are improving their ability to deal with it.
“There is still some way to go – no one ever represents the position differently,” Browne cautioned.
Earlier he said that the security situation in Iraq varied from province to province and that the “levels of violence are still unacceptable.”
“The Iraqi security forces have shown themselves able to deal effectively with security incidents that have occurred since then, such as the disturbances in Basra and Nasiriyah during last week’s Ashura mourning ceremony,” he assured MPs.
But the minister also accepted that he was aware of the “need to ensure that the Iraqi army is properly equipped to carry out the task that is expected of it.”
“Our focus is not only on training troops but on ensuring that the Iraqi Ministry of Defence is able, through its procurement process,” he said.
Britain, he said, specifically supported the Ministry of Defence in Baghdad spending “increasing levels of income that the Iraqi Government is able to achieve from the sale of oil.”
“We are making significant progress in that regard, and that equipment is improving day by day,” Browne said, mentioning that he met General Mohan, head of the Basra Operations Centre, in London last week, who expressed frustration at the pace of the armament.
Between 2005 and 2006, the UK presented the Iraqi government with a long list of security related equipment as gifts, but none last year.
The equipment included nearly 1,000 machine guns, 6,500 AK47 assault rifles and 5,666 x 9mm pistols as well of millions of rounds of ammunition.