LONDON, March 13 (Xinhuanet) -- British Defense Secretary John Reid announced Monday that the number of UK troops in Iraq would be reduced by 800 to 7,000.

    They could be withdrawn in May because Iraqi forces, now numbering 235,000, were now capable of overseeing tactical responsibilities, Reid told the Commons.

    The reduction means a total of 3,000 troops will have been withdrawn since October 2003, when there were 10,000 British troops there.

    Reid said there were now 235,000 members of the Iraqi security forces equipped and trained, with 5,000 more signing up every month.

    "The reductions I have announced are not part of a handover of security responsibility," he said.

    The Iraqi Army has 110 operational combat battalions carrying out counter-insurgency operations.

    This decision to reduce numbers was not prompted by a rise in violence and was not part of a wider timetable, said the minister.

    It reflected the "completion of some of our security sector reform tasks to develop the capability of the Iraqi forces", he said, and improvements in the way UK forces are configured.

    "They are not caused by, nor a cause of, changes in troop levels of other coalition allies," he added

    Downing Street has always insisted there is no strict timetable for British troops to quit Iraq and withdrawal depended on the "quality and quantity" of Iraqi troops.

    Nick Houghton, the UK's senior commander in Iraq, had told a newspaper they could withdraw by 2008.

    Reid said that despite the continued violence, civil war was "neither imminent nor inevitable" and the calm reaction of Iraqi civilians and troops were encouraging signs.

    "Despite the ferocity of the terrorist, the Iraqi people will not be defeated - and our will to see the job done will not be broken." Enditem