US to send marines back to Iraq

The United States is rotating its troops in Iraq

The US is to announce that thousands of marines will be sent to Iraq due to a lack of foreign troops to replace soldiers already there, officials say.

But overall the number of US troops in Iraq is set to fall, as more Iraqis are trained to take over their role.

One senior US general has said troop numbers could fall from 130,000 to about 100,000 by May.

Other Pentagon officials have warned that the reduction may not be so dramatic.

With the US army stretched thin, Pentagon planners have been juggling numbers for weeks, reports the BBC's Pentagon correspondent, Nick Childs.

They are due to announce details of the troop rotation on Thursday with notification already going out to units on Wednesday night.

"It does include the call-up of reserves," said General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"It does include the use of marine forces. It does include navy and air force with their capabilities to participate."

General Pace said that the two non-US divisions currently in Iraq - one led by Britain and one by Poland - would be rotated by the nations involved.

He also predicted that the US deployment in Iraq could fall to just over 100,000 in May as Iraqi security forces were trained and deployed.

But, our correspondent says that senior Republicans in Washington argue that American troop strength should be boosted to try to get a grip on the security situation.

New attacks

Whilst some US marines were still serving in Iraq recently, the withdrawal of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in September largely placed the security burden on the regular US army.

Troops suffered their heaviest casualties since the height of the war on Sunday when a helicopter was shot down near Falluja with the deaths of 15 soldiers.

In new incidents on Wednesday, US troops came under grenade attack three times in the northern city of Mosul.

One of the grenades killed three Iraqi civilians while in all five Americans and seven Iraqis were wounded, US and local sources said.

The US army also announced the capture of two former generals in Saddam Hussein's army in Falluja, a centre for armed opposition to the US-led coalition.

"The two generals were suspected of being key financiers and organisers of anti-coalition fighters operating in and around the city of Falluja," the US Army said.