By Peter Graff

BAGHDAD, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. forces said on Friday they could hand over security in the vast Western province of Anbar to Iraqi forces as soon as March or April, after a remarkable turnaround of security in the one-time insurgent stronghold.

U.S. forces spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said no firm date had been set for the handover of Anbar, once the most dangerous place in Iraq for U.S. troops, and it would ultimately be up to Iraqi authorities to name a date.

But he said Anbar was now listed among the next few provinces to be turned over to Iraqi forces in coming months, and U.S. and Iraqi officials had been meeting to discuss the conditions for the handover to take place.

"Within the next 3-4 months is a plausible timeframe for the turnover of Anbar province, but again only if conditions on the ground warrant turnover," Smith said in an e-mailed response to questions from Reuters.

Iraqi forces now control nine of Iraq's 18 provinces after assuming control of Basra, Iraq's southern oil hub, in December. But so far all the provinces under Iraqi control are either in the Kurdish north or the Shi'ite south.

Provinces such as Anbar with large Sunni Arab populations are still controlled by U.S. forces, and handing them over to security forces under the command of the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led central government in Baghdad would be a big step.

It was the main stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency, scene of the two biggest battles of the war in Falluja in 2004. Just a year and a half ago U.S. forces acknowledged that al Qaeda militants controlled the streets of many of its towns.

U.S. President George W. Bush noted on a visit to Anbar last September that he had been told by his military commanders a year before that the province had been lost.

But beginning in late 2006 Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar turned against al Qaeda and made peace with U.S. forces. It is now one of the quietest parts of the country where there is still a large U.S. presence.

"Certainly in January 2007 no one could have predicted the dramatic changes that were eventually achieved in Anbar Province over the past year. A great credit goes to the bravery of the people of al-Anbar," Smith said.

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