Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Monday his government had succeeded in preventing civil war in the war-torn country and that violence had dropped by 75 percent in Baghdad and other volatile provinces.

"We have succeeded in preventing Iraq from sliding into a civil war in spite of all the attempts to destabilise the country by local and international groups," Maliki told lawmakers in Iraqi parliament.

In his assessment of the situation in Iraq, Maliki said that the violence levels in Baghdad and the restive province of Anbar had dropped by 75 percent since the beginning of the Iraqi and US security plan in February.

Maliki's assessment came hours before top US officials in Iraq deliver a vital report of progress made in the violence-ravaged country to the US Congress. The report could decide the future of US strategy on the war.

The top Iraqi official also said that his government's policy toward the restive provinces has made 14,178 fighters from the Iraqi militant groups turn against Al Qaeda in Iraq and joined training with the Iraqi security forces in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

According to Maliki, Iraqi troops killed 652 terrorists and detained some 5,940 during the security plan in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces.

As for the displaced Iraqi families that left their homes due to the violence and sectarian strife, Maliki said that a total of 6,000 families returned to their homes in the capital.

He also confirmed that national reconciliation was going forward and that his government would "take Iraq to safe shore".