LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani joined families on Friday for a service of remembrance to honour the 179 British service personnel killed and those who fought in the war in Iraq.

"My brief words today cannot convey the great debt, and gratitude, of the Iraqi people to those men and women who joined in the liberating of Iraq," Talabani said, thanking the troops.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair joined members of the royal family and veterans for the service in St Paul's Cathedral.

Britain's combat operations in Iraq formally ended on April 30, six years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in March 2003.

During that time, more than 100,000 members of the armed forces and civilian personnel served in Iraq and 179 British servicemen and women were killed.

Although the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have divided public opinion in Britain, support for the armed forces remains strong. Funeral corteges of dead soldiers have been shown on live television, in contrast to the United States.

Public opposition to the war in Iraq was one of the factors that sapped Blair's popularity in the latter years of his decade in power. He handed over to party colleague Brown in 2007. Brown has faced growing criticism over the campaign in Afghaninstan where the death toll now exceeds the number of British soldiers killed in Iraq.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Michael Roddy)

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