Iraqi PM says Iraq can be made safe in two years

BAGHDAD, Tuesday (Reuters)

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said security in his country could be established within two years, while insurgents killed and wounded dozens in new attacks.

Four civilians were killed and 29 wounded by a car bomb at a Baghdad mosque, five people were killed by two roadside bombs, two senior police officers were assassinated and a mortar strike on a restaurant wounded seven people. A U.S. soldier was killed.

A U.S. Apache attack helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing both its crew. Witnesses said it may have been fired on.

Violence has worsened in the two months since Jaafari's government took office, and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reiterated on Monday it would be up to Iraqis, not U.S. forces, to defeat an insurgency that could last many years.

Rumsfeld's remarks appeared to signal a change in the U.S. stance before President George W. Bush's planned keynote speech on Iraq on Tuesday. A few weeks ago U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said the insurgency was in its last throes.

"I think two years will be enough and more than enough to establish security," Jaafari told reporters after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

Jaafari said the exact time it would take to make the country safe depended on several factors, including getting Iraqi security forces well trained and better equipped and making progress with the political process.

Neighbouring countries had to help stop guerrillas crossing borders, said Jaafari, whose government is led by Shi'ites and Kurds. Sunni Arabs, a minority who held sway in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, make up the core of the insurgency.

Rumsfeld has made clear the United States did not plan to go on leading the fight until Iraq was at peace but said Washington would create a situation in which the Iraqi people and their security forces could win.