BASRA, Iraq, Dec 9 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday and said his country would hand responsibility for the last province it controls to Iraqi security forces within weeks.

The brief stop at a British-held airbase outside of the southern city of Basra was Brown's second visit to Iraq since taking over from Tony Blair as prime minister in June. Britain now has about 4,500 troops in Iraq, reducing to 2,500 next year.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft in Basra, writing by Peter Graff in Baghdad, Editing by Dean Yates)

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