US asks Britain to deploy troops in more volatile parts of Iraq

An Iraqi man prays with his beads as others gather outside a destroyed church following an explosion in Baghdad yesterday. Bombs exploded near five churches around Baghdad last morning followed by a mortar attack near a sixth church, causing damage but no casualties. Iraq's tiny Christian community has been heavily targeted in the unrest that has swept the country following last year's US-led invasion. PHOTO: AFP

The comments came after Britain's Channel Four television reported that Washington wants London to deploy soldiers in more volatile parts of Iraq, as a new offensive on insurgent-held Fallujah looms.

"It is correct that the Americans have asked what are our thoughts are for doing a particular operation," Major Charles Mayo, spokesman for the British-led Multi-National Division South East, told AFP by telephone from the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

"There is a constant discussion involving a range of activities," he said, playing down the significance of the request.

British planners reviewed the activities of the country's 8,000-strong military contingent in Iraq every day, Mayo added.

"In this environment you get requests all the time from MNF-I (the US-led Multi-National Forces in Iraq)," said the spokesman.

On Friday, Channel Four cited sources at the Ministry of Defence saying the US military had lodged a formal request for British troops to cover forces which are to be re-deployed for a renewed offensive against insurgents in the rebel city of Fallujah.

"It's understood that the commanding officer of the reserve betallion of the Black Watch is looking at a request for some 650 personnel to provide cover for the Americans," it said on its website, www.channel4.com.