Britain's Blair sees Iraq troop statement in weeks

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) Britain expects to make an announcement about cutting the size of its force in Iraq within the next few weeks, Prime Minister Tony Blair said today.

''The whole purpose is that there should be a process whereby we can draw down our troops as the Iraqi capability takes over the activities of security enforcement,'' Blair told a news conference, when asked about the size of the British force.

''I think you will find in the next few weeks we will have some things to say about that, that may give people some more certainty for the future.'' Blair said he had spoken to Iraq's new prime minister Nuri al-Maliki and expected talks on the fate of the US-led foreign forces in Iraq would start when Maliki had finalised his cabinet.

''I hope very much that in the next week to 10 days we will have a proper new government in Iraq. We will then sit down and work out with them what can happen with the multi-national force for the future,'' said Blair.

Maliki, a Shi'ite, was selected to lead the new government after interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari was persuaded to step aside.

Washington and London want Maliki to form a unity government that will include Kurds and Sunni Arabs.

Britain has about 8,000 troops in Iraq, mainly in the south, where they patrol four mainly Shi'ite provinces that include Iraq's oil-rich second city, Basra.

British officials have said some of those southern provinces could be among the first considered safe enough for US-led multinational forces to withdraw and hand over security responsibility to Iraqis.

But Basra itself has been increasingly dangerous over the past year. A British helicopter crashed in the city on Saturday -- possibly shot down -- killing all five crew on board and sparking riots in which five Iraqis died.

REUTERS DKS PM1846