The state of emergency has been in place for almost two years and covers every region except the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. It grants security forces greater powers such as implementing curfews and making arrests without warrants.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, on her first trip to Iraq since taking her post in May, met with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh and discussed the transfer of security control from the US-led coalition to Iraqi authorities.

"There has been responsibility that has been transferred already and we hope and believe that that is a process that will continue," Beckett said. It is "absolutely key that we see that responsibility being able to be exercised by the representatives of the elected government of Iraq."

British forces handed over control of the southern Muthana province to their Iraqi counterparts in July, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said another southern province, Dhi Qar, would follow in September.

"I recognise that at the end of the day, security in this country must be a prime responsibility for the Iraqi government and the Iraqi security services," Saleh said.

Handing over control from the coalition to Iraqi authorities is a key part of any eventual drawdown of international troops.

In the past week, a disagreement emerged over the handover of Iraq's armed forces command and a highly anticipated ceremony on Saturday marking the transfer was called off at the last minute.

The two sides still had to complete "some legal and protocol procedures that will lead to a complete understanding between the Iraqi government and the multinational troops," the Defense Ministry said. Neither Iraqi nor US officials would comment further on the nature of the disagreement.

On Monday, Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for al-Maliki, told The Associated Press that the ceremony would be held "if not the end of this week, early next week depending on the prime minister's schedule."

Beckett, whose visit came after two British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq on Monday, was to meet with al-Maliki later in the day.