The British army is to begin Tuesday its official troops withdrawal from the Iraq's southern city of Basra, a local police source said.

　　American troops are expected to replace the withdrawing British troops, which were stationed in Basra's air-base during the past six years since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the source said.

　　Up to 200 British soldiers are expected to leave Iraq through the neighboring Kuwait, the source added.

　　Tuesday's departure is part of an agreement signed between Iraq and Britain in November last year, in which the latter pledged to complete pullout of its last 4,100 soldiers from Iraq by late July2009.

　　For his part, the governor of Basra, Mohammed al-Waili appreciated the role of the British troops in restoring security in Basra.

　　"We respect and appreciate the British troops which helped the people of Basra in securing their city," Waili was quoted by local media as saying.

　　Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, is the second largest city in Iraq and had been under British troops control since 2003 when some 46,000 British soldiers poured in southern Iraq at the height of combat operations that toppled the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

　　据伊拉克媒体报道，驻伊英军31日起开始全面撤出伊拉克南部城市巴士拉。

　　报道说，当天驻伊英军在其位于巴士拉的驻地举行撤军仪式，降下英国国旗。约200名英军士兵将通过邻国科威特撤出伊拉克。此次英军撤出后，将由美军接替执行其在当地的任务。

　　根据去年11月伊拉克和英国签署的协议，剩余的约4100名驻伊英军士兵将于2009年7月底全部撤出。

　　巴士拉位于伊拉克首都巴格达以南约550公里处，是伊拉克的第二大城市，也是伊拉克最主要的石油出口港。自2003年伊拉克战争以来，作为驻军规模仅次于美军的英国部队就驻守在巴士拉的空军基地。2003年3月至4月间，驻伊英军作战部队的规模曾一度达到4.6万人。驻伊6年间，有179名英国士兵死在伊拉克。

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