DIWANIYAH, July 16, 2008 (AFP) - Iraq took control of security in the Shiite province of Diwaniyah on Wedesday and said it aimed to regain control of the entire country from US-led forces by end of the year.

'We are receiving the security file' of Diwaniyah, deputy parliament speaker Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya said at the transfer ceremony.

'This day represents a bright page in a series of achievements that show the ability and the strength of the Iraqi forces.'

Diwaniyah, formerly known as Qadisiyah, is the 10th province to be handed over to Iraqi security control amid a fall in violence nationwide.

US ambassador Ryan Crocker and military commander General David Petraeus, said the transfer reflected the improved capabilities of Iraqi security forces in the province but added that more work needed to be done.

'For the past two months, Iraqi security forces in Qadisiyah have been operating independently and demonstrated their readiness to assume responsibility for the provincial security,' they said in a joint statement.

'The provincial and military leadership in Qadisiyah will have to work cooperatively in order to attain the sustainable security necessary for long term economic prosperity,' they added.

Iraq's National Security Adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said the growing confidence shown by the country's security forces gave grounds for optimism that the remaining eight provinces could be returned to Iraqi security control by December.

'We hope that we will reach the 18th province before the end of the current year,' Rubaie said in his speech at the handover.

He called on provincial leaders of Diwaniyah to build on the improved security to rebuild the local economy.

'We thank the multinational forces for their contribution to the stability and security of this province,' he said.

'It is time now for the sons of the province to turn the page of security and start a new page of rebuilding and reconstruction to create new jobs and make the province the most prosperous among all other provinces.'

The US military says that the Iraqi security forces have been growing in strength amid a fall in violence nationwide to a four-year low.

Diwaniyah has seen repeated clashes among Shiite factions -- notably between the radical movement of anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the rival Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, a key member of the governing coalition.

Last November, Iraqi and US troops launched a major offensive in Diwaniyah in a bid to stabilise the province of around one million people.

More than 3,000 Iraqi soldiers and police supported by tanks and hundreds of US and Polish troops took part in the assault to flush out Shiite militiamen from the province's capital, also called Diwaniyah.

Nearly 100 militiamen were detained during the operation, many of them loyal to Sadr.

The transfer of Diwaniyah was originally scheduled for June 30 but was delayed after bad weather stopped Iraqi officials making the 180 kilometre (110 mile) trip south from the capital.

Diwaniyah had been under the control of US and Polish forces since the March 2003 invasion.

The Polish military has some 900 troops in Iraq, most of them deployed in Diwaniyah and parts of southern Iraq.

Diwaniyah is the 10th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be transferred to local responsibility, amid a push to return security control of the entire country to Baghdad.

The nine other provinces which have been handed over to the Iraqis are the Shiite provinces of Maysan, Muthanna, Basra, Dhi Qar, Najaf and Karbala, and the three Kurdish provinces of Dohuk, Sulaimaniyah and Arbil.