AMARA, Iraq, April 18 (Reuters) - Iraq plans to take security control of all its provinces from foreign forces by the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a speech read out by a senior official on Wednesday.

Maliki is under growing pressure from anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to set a timetable for the withdrawal of 146,000 U.S. troops from Iraq.

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