British troops may go to Baghdad as cover for American offensive

British troops may be sent to Baghdad to help US forces poised for a major assault on Fallujah.

British troops may be sent to Baghdad to help US forces poised for a major assault on Fallujah.

Under plans being considered, a battalion of the Black Watch will deploy in the Iraqi capital to replace American troops needed for the offensive against fighters led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and other Sunni militant groups in the rebel stronghold.

Another possibility under discussion is for the British troops to be stationed further north, near Kirkuk and Irbil, freeing US forces there for Fallujah. The American high command, however, has stated that it would prefer the British presence to be in Baghdad.

There are no plans to send the Black Watch to Fallujah. But the Iraqi capital has been the scene of some of the worst violence in recent months.

Defence sources stressed last night that no decision had been made on the deployment. Contingency talks have been held with the US, however, and the Black Watch battalion, a reserve force, is being kept specifically for such an eventuality. One senior officer said "the decision is 50-50 whether they go north. There are serious reservations".

Any such move is bound to prove highly controversial. It will identify British troops with US military actions and this may have repercussions in the Basra area, where the British forces have a far better relationship than the Americans with the local population.

A small force of Royal Highland Fusiliers has been in Baghdad. They are not, however, in the front line. A replacement of Americans bound for Fallujah will mean the Black Watch will be undertaking combat duties.

The Independent has learned that British military commanders have resisted two previous request by the Americans to send troops to Baghdad and other parts of the Sunni triangle. In the months following the fall of Baghdad, they faced pressure from Downing Street to acquiesce to a US call to send the 16 Air Assault Brigade to the capital. Each time the request had been refused officially on the grounds of "overstretch".

If any troops are sent this time, it will be one battalion, of around 600, plus support of another 100, of mechanised infantry supported by Warrior armoured cars.

* A British security guard has been shot dead near Kirkuk, it was confirmed yesterday. The man, an employee of the London-based ArmorGroup security firm who has not been named, was killed on Monday in the northern enclave of Taza. He had been involved in securing an area where engineers were working on infrastructure rebuilding projects.