Britain likely to publish Iraq Inquiry in June or July next year

Britain is likely to publish the findings of its long-awaited Iraq Inquiry, in June or July of 2016, Chair of the Inquiry Sir John Chilcot said in a letter published on Thursday to British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The letter, sent to Cameron on Wednesday, set out a timetable for completion of the Inquiry's report, which was established by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009 to investigate Britain' s involvement in the Iraq War, Xinhua reported.

The letter said that the Inquiry expects to complete the text of its report in the week of April 18 in 2016, when confidential access will be given to a team of officials for national security checking before its publication.

"I entirely understand that a checking process is necessary and is normal procedure in Inquiries which have considered a large volume of sensitive material" to ensure that the government meets its obligations with respect to human rights and national security, Chilcot wrote in the letter.

"The very considerable size of our report -- more than two million words in total -- means that it will take some weeks to prepare for printing and publication... We will complete that work as swiftly as possible," Chilcot explained.

"I consider that once National Security checking has been completed it should be possible to agree with you a date for publication in June or July 2016," he added.