The Pentagon said 71 Iraqi security force battalions are now capable of leading counter-insurgency operations, up from 53 three months ago.

But officials who briefed reporters on the quarterly progress report to Congress said the number of battalions capable of operating fully independently of coalition forces was being kept secret.

"It was zero last time. We have increased it substantially," said Lieutenant General Gene Renuart, Joint Staff director for strategic plans and policy.

Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said the number of battalions capable of operating independently was "up a little bit."

The numbers of Iraqi battalions capable of leading operations is key to efforts to shift responsibility for security from the coalition force to Iraqis, he said.

The report said 68 security force battalions are now in control of their own designated areas, up from 37 three months ago.

But the Iraqi forces still cannot function effectively without the backing of coalition forces for air power, logistics, intelligence and other forms of support.

Rodman said the shift in security responsibilities will be gradual.

"The president said when they stand up, we stand down. It's not going to be suddenly we're there in big numbers, the next day we all go home."

"So strategically, now General Casey sees this as a pivotal thing: that Iraqis are able to take over the lead. We can downgrade to a supporting role. I think strategically that's what we're aiming at at this stage," he said.

General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, has said he hopes to make "fairly substantial" reductions in the 130,00-plus US force this year.

But he was forced to bring in 1,500 additional US troops to Iraq this week to deal with a growing challenge to US forces in al-Anbar province where insurgents are fighting for control of the provincial capital.

Even as the size of the Iraqi force has grown to 263,400, the level of violence has increased with a surge in sectarian attacks in the weeks after a bombing of Shiite mosque in Samarra in February.

"Overall, average weekly attacks during this 'government transition' period were higher than any of the previous periods," the report said.

A chart showed the number of attacks between February 11 and May 12, rising to more than 600 a week, compared to more than 400 before the United States turned over sovereignty to Iraqis June 28, 2004.

The average casualties among Iraqi and US forces has soared to more than 90 a day during the same period, from about 55 in the period leading up the handover of sovereignty.

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