UK leads multi-national Iraq force

UK troops are already supported by Danish and Czech soldiers

The UK is heading up a 16,000-strong international peacekeeping force in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

The 11,000 British troops in the force are already in southern Iraq and will be joined by around 5,000 troops from other nations, according to the MoD.

Officials say discussions on getting multinational troops in to the area have been going on for several weeks and nine countries are now signed up to help.

The division will continue joint patrols with Iraqi police and working to rebuild the infrastructure in the area around the city of Basra.

Danish troops have already been sent to the area of southern Iraq controlled by the UK and the Czech Republic has set up a field hospital in Basra.

Other nations expected to contribute troops to the UK-led force include: the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, New Zealand and Lithuania.

Rotations

The news comes as some British troops are being replaced as part of routine rest periods.

Some Parachute Regiment soldiers are also returning to the UK.

Up to 20,000 troops from outside the UK and America are "gearing up" to go to Iraq, according to the chairman of America's Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers.

"The flow would start in July or August and probably finish out in September," General Myers said at the Pentagon.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the international troops would help to give rotation and rest periods to coalition troops already in Iraq.

"The more that are there, the fewer US troops we have to have," Mr Rumsfeld said.

Security problems

"So we won't know precisely what (Central Command is) going to want ... whether they like what they have or they want fewer or more."

Seventy nations had been asked to contribute peacekeeping troops, said Mr Rumsfeld.

The post-conflict security problems have been illustrated by reports on Tuesday that US troops have come under fresh attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Eyewitnesses say at least three soldiers and one other person were killed when an American armoured car blew up in the west of the city.

The attacks come after six British military policeman were killed in Majar al-Kabir last week.