British operations aimed at preparing for the handover of security in Basra to Iraqi authorities could be completed in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday.

Mr Blair's comments may suggest an earlier handover than had been previously thought. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in November last year that Britain could hand over control of Basra to the Iraqi government in spring 2007.

"There has been an operation that the British have been conducting in Basra over the past few months which will be completed in the next few weeks," Mr Blair said, adding he would then discuss future policy with parliament.

Asked whether final handover of Basra may be before Easter, which falls this year in early April, Mr Blair's spokesman said: "Let's see how operations develop."

"Operation Sinbad is scheduled to finish some time in February. There then needs to be a period of assessment before the prime minister makes a statement to the house," he said, adding that troop numbers would be addressed in the statement.

Asked whether Britain would follow the lead of the US and increase its troops in Iraq, Mr Blair told lawmakers: "In relation to Basra the situation is different."

"We do not have the same Sunni-Shia sectarian violence, we do not have al Qaeda operating in the same way and we do not have the Sunni insurgency operating in the same way."

Britain has some 7,100 troops in southern Iraq, mostly stationed in and around Basra. The city, Iraq's second biggest, remains dangerous with Shi'ite factions battling each other for control and British troops sometimes targeted.

Government sources said Operation Sinbad - the success of which will largely dictate the speed of the final handover - was going well. The operation aims to retrain Basra police, root out insurgents and improve basic services with a view to leaving Iraqi forces in charge.