BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A top official in Basra, Iraq’s oil capital, said Iraqi forces aren’t ready to tackle security, despite the prime minister’s pledge to do so by December.

“The security forces in Basra are working as hard as they can to establish a good security situation,” Basra Deputy Gov. Luaiy al-Battat said, the al-Mashriq newspaper reports. “However, the numbers of these forces and their equipment are insufficient to gain complete control of a large province like Basra.”

Violence has ebbed and flowed in the area, where gangs and militias -- a number associated with political parties -- battle over power and control of the oil sector and the lucrative oil and fuels black market.

But tensions within varying Shiite groups have largely eased upward, not down, as British forces begin withdrawing.

“The Iraqi forces will receive the security mission in Basra city from the British forces in mid-December,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said during a ceremony marking the security file handover from U.S. to Iraqi forces in Karbala.

Karbala is the eighth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to take over its own security detail.

Battat said security forces lack equipment and numbers to control the border.