Commandos withdrawn from Iraq

Some marines from 45 Commando will be coming home

Scottish-based Royal Marine Commandos are to be withdrawn from Iraq next month, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has announced.

3 Commando Brigade, the first British land force deployed in Iraq, includes elements of 45 Commando from RM Condor in Arbroath.

About 470 specialist personnel from there were sent to the Gulf.

They are among 3,500 British troops who will be returning home

There is no set date for the withdrawal of The 1st Battalion The Black Watch and The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, part of 7th Armoured Brigade.

But a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence in Scotland said they would return home as soon as possible.

HMS Blyth and HMS Brocklesby, mine counter-measure vessels based at Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde, are being withdrawn.

HMS Edinburgh, a Type 42 Destroyer affiliated to Scotland's capital but based in Portsmouth, will also return home.

Peacekeeping duties

Mr Hoon also announced plans on Wednesday to send hundreds of soldiers from Scottish regiments to the Gulf for stabilising and peacekeeping duties.

The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) and 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, otherwise known as The Lowland Gunners, are part of 19 Mechanised Brigade which is preparing to go to Iraq.

About 500 soldiers from the KOSB will be deployed.

The regiment is currently based in North Yorkshire at Catterick Garrison, but their 'home patch' covers the Borders, Dumfries & Galloway and Lanarkshire.

The MoD said a further 400 personnel would be delpoyed from the Lowland Gunners.