Britain will withdraw 1,600 troops from Iraq: Blair

LONDON: Britain will withdraw 1,600 troops from Iraq within the coming months, Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday.

Announcing the country's first large-scale troop withdrawal from Iraq since the 2003 war, Blair told the House of Commons that Britain's 7,100-strong deployment in the south of the country would be reduced to around 5,500.

He said the next chapter of Basra's history would be written by the Iraqis.