LONDON, May 8 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday that Britain expects to make an announcement about cutting the size of its force in Iraq within the next few weeks.

    "The whole purpose is that there should be a process whereby we can draw down our troops as the Iraqi capability takes over the activities of security enforcement," Blair told reporters at his regular monthly news conference.

    "I think you will find in the next few weeks we will have some things to say about that, that may give people some more certainty for the future." Blair said.

    Blair said he had spoken to Iraq's new prime minister Nuri al-Maliki and that talks on the fate of the U.S.-led foreign forces in Iraq would start when Maliki had finalized his cabinet.

    "I hope very much that in the next week to 10 days we will have a proper new government in Iraq. We will then sit down and work out with them what can happen with the multinational force for the future," said Blair.

    Blair also paid tribute to the five British soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Basra, south Iraq, on Saturday. The death has raised the number of British troops killed in Iraq to 109 since March 2003.

    Currently, about 8,000 British troops are based in four southern provinces in Iraq. Enditem