Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    LONDON, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday that the British and American armies were not to beheld responsible for the killings in Iraq, but it was their duty to end the violence there.

    In an interview with BBC television, Blair said that he was "devastated" by the number of deaths in Iraq's violence, but "it's not British and American troops who are killing them."

    Rather, the bloodshed was brought by those "deliberately using terrorism to try to stop the country getting on its feet," Blair said.

    "We have absolute responsibility to put things right," he added.

    Meanwhile, Blair dismissed suggestions that he should bear responsibility for deaths in Iraq.

    "What I completely dispute is that the reason Iraq has got the difficulties it has ... is simply because of issues to do with planning before the war," he said.

    Blair said that British troops had completed an operation to hand front-line security responsibility to Iraqis in Basra, where some 7,500 British troops are currently stationed.

    Up to 132 British soldiers have been killed since the U.S.-led war on Iraq broke out in March 2003.