Brown sees Iraqi control of Basra within 2 months

BAGHDAD, Oct 2 (Reuters) Prime Minister Gordon Brown today said he believed Iraq could assume security control of southern Basra province from British forces within two months.

''I believe that within the next two months we can move to provincial Iraqi control, that is Iraqis taking responsibility for their own security,'' Brown told reporters on a visit to Baghdad.

The handover of security control of Basra would complete the transfer of power in all four southern Iraqi provinces for which Britain was once responsible in the wake of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

REUTERS ARB KN1533