Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq     

    BAGHDAD, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Defense Secretary John Hutton made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday to meet top Iraqi leaders, an Iraqi television reported.

    Hutton met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and held talks on relations between the two countries, the Sharqiya television said.

    Hutton's visit comes after nearly two months of report by the British Daily Telegraph newspaper said that most of Britain's contingent in Iraq would be withdrawn over the next nine months, leaving only a few hundred soldiers in southern part of the country.

    In July, Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised a major withdrawal for his 4,100 troops in the early months of 2009.