The US wants to put "an Iraqi face" on security

The United States is holding talks with Hungary about using Taszar Air Base to train Iraqis in police skills in the coming months, but no final agreement had been reached.

News of the move comes with the Bush administration under increasing domestic pressure to ease the burden on existing forces in Iraq.

On Monday, the death toll for US troops in "post-war" Iraq rose to 138 - the same number of troops killed in the conflict up to 1 May, when President Bush declared an end to combat operations.

The US army used the Taszar base earlier this year to train more than 100 exiled Iraqis as guides, translators and for other non-combat tasks with the coalition forces which invaded Iraq in March.

US officials have set the goal of training and deploying 65,000 Iraqi police officers around the country, a spokeswoman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad told Reuters news agency.

About 37,000 Iraqi police officers are already working in Iraq, the spokeswoman said, meaning thousands more could require training at Taszar, if Hungary agrees to the arrangement

'Iraqi face' on security

Hungary's government is receptive to the idea but is still waiting for a formal request from Washington, the Hungarian foreign ministry told Associated Press.

"Of course, any official request would have to be considered further by the government, but something of this nature could help save the Taszar base from closure," spokesman Tamas Toth said.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said Iraqis are being trained at an accelerated pace to put "an Iraqi face" on the security forces.

"It may well be that a number of them will be trained outside the country," Mr Rumsfeld said on Monday.

Earlier this month, the former New York police chief who has been put in charge of rebuilding Iraq's police force said he was making good progress in controlling crime.

Bernard Kerik - who was appointed to run the interior ministry - said police had recently broken up four gangs involved in kidnapping Iraqi civilians for ransom.