British troops are likely to be deployed outside southern Iraq for the first time in support of US troops in some of the worst trouble spots in the country, including Baghdad, it emerged Friday night.
The UK Ministry of Defense confirmed that contingency plans are being drawn up to deploy a battle group of around 650 men to cover for US troops while they carry out offensive operations against insurgents in Fallujah and elsewhere.
The planned deployment -- understood to be the result of a formal request for assistance from US forces -- will be the first time British troops have operated inside the Sunni Triangle around Baghdad where the majority of attacks against the occupying forces have occurred. It is expected the troops will be under overall US command.
It would also mark a major escalation in Britain's involvement in the occupation of Iraq. Prime Minister Tony Blair, is thought to have flown back early from a conference in Budapest Friday morning to deal with the issue.
"There are a series of contingency plans being worked up, but no decisions have been made," a spokesman for the ministry said Friday night.
However, a military source, asked if he thought the deployment would happen, said: "If I was a betting man I would say yes."
He added: "There is contingency planning going on at the moment to assist the US in their future operations to try and create an environment for elections to go ahead.
"They are going to give a severe slap to Fallujah -- that has been pretty well documented -- and a number of contingency plans are being looked at that would allow British troops to go and look after areas to allow US troops to mount offensive operations," the source said.
But the source categorically denied reports that the Black Watch -- the British regiment most likely to be sent in support of US troops -- would be used in any battle for Fallujah.
The source was also unable to put any timescale on the possible deployment.
"If the decision is taken I would imagine it could happen very quickly," he said.
A total of 68 British troops have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war, compared with 1,062 Americans.
The US has been threatening a major offensive against Fallujah and other insurgent strongholds for several weeks.
In a statement read at sermons in mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere, Fallujah's clerics called for civil disobedience across Iraq if the Americans try to overrun the insurgent bastion.
If that did not halt an offensive, the clerics said they would proclaim a jihad against multinational forces "as well as those collaborating with them."
Meanwhile, the former UK ambassador to the UN, Jeremy Greenstock, has revealed for the first time that he did not believe the UN weapons inspectors were granted enough time to do their work inside Iraq before the US and the British decided to abandon the UN route and mount an invasion of Iraq.
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