More UK troops being sent to Iraq

British troops are being sent to replace Dutch forces

An extra 220 British troops are to be sent to Iraq, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced.

An MoD spokesman said they would replace Dutch troops who are due to return home in March.

The announcement came on the day Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy called on Tony Blair to outline a "proper exit strategy" after Sunday's poll in Iraq.

Last week the prime minister had told Mr Kennedy there were "no plans to expand the British contribution".

Dutch forces have made good progress in al Muthanna, both in ensuring the stability of the province and building the capability of the Iraqi security forces Geoff Hoon Defence secretary

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said in a parliamentary statement that military chiefs had decided a force of about 600 was enough to cover Iraq's southern province of Muthanna - currently patrolled by 1,400 Dutch troops.

Most of that 600 are to come from British units already deployed in Iraq but an extra 220 troops were needed to provide logistics and other support, he said.

"Dutch forces have made good progress in al Muthanna, both in ensuring the stability of the province and building the capability of the Iraqi security forces," Mr Hoon said.

"This means that a significantly smaller force package is now able to perform these tasks."

Reduced by February?

The extra 220 would fall to 150 once the initial deployment was completed.

Lib Dem defence spokesman Paul Keetch said: "Given that Czech and Portuguese soldiers will also withdraw from the southern sector - and Romania and Italy may follow suit - how many more British troops will needed over the coming months?

"This increase could be the first of many," he added before calling for a Commons debate on the issue.

Dutch forces, under British command, have been based in Muthanna since August 2003.

Gaps?

About 9,000 British service personnel are in the southern region of Iraq and Mr Hoon said the total was planned to fall by the end of February.

That would happen as the extra 400 UK troops deployed earlier this month ahead of expected violence in the run up to Iraq's elections were withdrawn.

Mr Kennedy had asked in the House of Commons whether the MoD planned to send more troops after the Iraq elections to "plug any gaps" left by the withdrawal of Dutch and also Czech and Portuguese forces.

Mr Blair replied in the exchanges on Wednesday last week: "No, there are no plans to expand the British contribution."