BAGHDAD, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - The director of the international airport of Iraq's southern port city of Basra was kidnapped by unknown gunmen outside his home on Tuesday night, a security official said.

Abdul Razak Kassem was abducted when he arrived back from work at his home in a residential area close to the airport, the official said.

There were no immediate further details.

British troops pulled out of Basra city on September 2-3 but fears of a Shiite turf war remain and sectarian violence continues.

BASRA, Iraq, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Residents of Basra say things are calmer since the British 'occupiers' moved out a month ago, but only last week a car bomb exploded in Iraq's second city and fears of a Shiite turf war remain.

Around 500 British soldiers slipped away overnight on September 2-3 from their headquarters at Basra Palace, a sumptuous former residence of Saddam Hussein, who was ousted four and a half years ago by a coalition of largely US and British troops.

BASRA, Iraq, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's Gordon Brown arrived Tuesday in the southern city of Basra where he was to visit British troops on the second leg of his maiden trip to Iraq as prime minister.

Brown met earlier in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and said that he hoped 1,000 British troops would be home by Christmas as he aimed to hand back control of Basra province to the Iraqis within two months.

BASRA, Iraq, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Residents of Basra say things are calmer since the British 'occupiers' moved out a month ago, but only last week a car bomb exploded in Iraq's second city and fears of a Shiite turf war remain.

Around 500 British soldiers slipped away overnight on September 2-3 from their headquarters at Basra Palace, a sumptuous former residence of Saddam Hussein, who was ousted four and a half years ago by a coalition of largely US and British troops.

BAGHDAD, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Iraq's southern province of Basra could be handed over by British forces to Iraqi control within two months, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday.

'I believe that within the next two months we can move to provincial Iraqi control (of Basra), that is Iraqis taking responsibility of their own security,' Brown told reporters on his maiden visit to Baghdad as prime minister.

BASRA, Iraq, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Residents of Basra say things are calmer since the British 'occupiers' moved out a month ago, but only last week a car bomb exploded in Iraq's second city and fears of a Shiite turf war remain.

Concern that British troops might have pulled out of the city too soon were heightened on September 25 when a suicide car bomber killed three police trainees outside the force's main headquarters.

WASHINGTON, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - The US military is taking a 'wait and see' stance on developments in the southern Iraqi port of Basra but believes the Iraqi military can handle violence between factions competing for power, the US commander in Iraq said Wesday.

General David Petraeus said some small US special forces elements may be sent to the south to work with Iraqi forces, but not a larger US presence as Britain scales back its mission in the south.

LONDON, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Britain was prepared to withdraw its forces from the southern Iraqi city of Basra in April, but held off for five months after the United States asked it to stay, Britain's military commander in Iraq said in an interview published on Monday.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Brigadier James Bashall, commander of 1 Mechanised Brigade, said that he wanted to leave Britain's Basra Palace base in April, something he said would have been 'the right thing to do.'

BASRA, Iraq, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Iraq on Wednesday formally took charge of the last British military base in the southern port city of Basra.

'Today we celebrate the takeover of the Basra Palace from the mulitnational forces,' said Iraq's national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie who was in Basra to oversee the formal handover.

'It is a happy day as it represents restoring of national sovereignty.'

LONDON, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - While the British defence ministry attempted to paint the movement of its troops from their base in Iraq's Basra Palace as part of an orderly handover, the British press on Tuesday saw it as something else entirely -- failure.

The evacuation of the troops from the palace to a desert airbase just 11 kilometres (seven miles) west of Basra city paves the way for a full British handover of security in the region to Iraqi authorities, which the British defence ministry said could take place in the autumn.

BASRA, Iraq, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - After four and a half inconclusive years of fighting, British forces slipped out of their last base in the Iraqi oil port of Basra on Monday and handed over control to their Iraqi comrades.

The move, carried out under cover of darkness, came amid heightened tensions between Washington and London, the closest US ally in Iraq, over their policy in the war-torn nation.

It also left behind a city in the grip of a brutal militia turf war.

BASRA, Iraq, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - 'We are happy to be rid of the British,' Iraqi army officer Sadoun Hami said on Monday after Britain pulled out its troops from its last base in the southern Iraqi port city.

'They were harassing us in the streets and raided our houses and arrested our sons. We now want to see them out of greater Basra,' he aded.

But there was little apparent celebration on the streets as residents headed to work as usual, passing through checkpoints manned by Iraqi soldiers and police.

BASRA, Iraq, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - British troops have quit the city of Basra and handed control of their Basra Palace base to Iraqi troops, an Iraqi general said on Monday.

'British troops began their withdrawal from Basra Palace at 11:00 pm (1900 GMT) last night,' said General Mohan Fahad, commander of Basra military operations.

'The Iraqi army has now taken over responsibility and the area is off-limits. No one can approach except those who are authorised,' he told AFP.

WASHINGTON, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - The US military is concerned about the deteriorating security situation in the southern Iraqi province of Basra but is looking to British forces to maintain order, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

'This is less an insurgency issue than it is criminal, a borderline Mafia kind of situation. You've got competing criminal interests looking for territory down there,' said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon's press secretary.

BAGHDAD, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Scores of doctors gathered at their union headquarters in Iraq's second city of Basra on Tuesday to protest the kidnapping of one of their colleagues.

Gunmen kidnapped Jabbar Attiya, the chairman of the Basra branch of the Iraqi Pharmacists Union, while he returned home from his own private pharmacy on Monday, according to Lieutenant Karim al-Zaydi of the Basra police.

The doctors demanded the local government do a better job of protecting doctors and pharmacists, according to Muayid Jumaa, the chairman of the syndicate's Basra branch.

BAGHDAD, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Scores of doctors gathered at their union headquarters in Iraq's second city of Basra on Tuesday to protest the kidnapping of one of their colleagues.

Gunmen kidnapped Jabbar Attiya, the chairman of the Basra branch of the Iraqi Pharmacists Union, while he returned home from his own private pharmacy on Monday, according to Lieutenant Karim al-Zaydi of the Basra police.

The doctors demanded the local government do a better job of protecting doctors and pharmacists, according to Muayid Jumaa, the chairman of the syndicate's Basra branch.