Iraq: More troops considered

2004-10-21 09:04

London - Britain may send up to 1 300 extra troops to Iraq to help stabilise the country before scheduled elections in January, The Times newspaper reported in its Thursday edition.

The Times report comes as Britain considers a United States request to temporarily redeploy 650 troops from southern Iraq to the US-controlled sector in central Iraq in a bid to improve security in the run-up to the elections.

"There may be a request to surge additional forces into Iraq in the run-up to the elections - that has been discussed," Lieutenant General John McColl, Britain's senior general in Iraq, told the Times.

"But it is no more than prudent planning at this stage," the general was quoted as saying before flying back to Britain on Wednesday. McColl had just served for six months as second-in-command of the US-led multinational force.

The Times said McColl did not give numbers but Air Marshal Glenn Torpy, who has just taken over as Chief of Joint Operations at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, north-west of London, has taken charge of plans that could boost British troop numbers during the election period by up to 1 300.

It said troops reinforcements may even be sent well before the elections if commanders decide they need to fill the gap left by the eventual redeployment of 650 Black Watch troops to the US-controlled sector.

Britain now has about 8 500 military personnel assigned to Operation Telic, the codename for the British mission in Iraq, but only 7 400 are ground troops, and the area of responsibility is vast for a comparatively small force, it said.

- AFP