LONDON, Oct 18 (AFP) - Britain has received a request from Washington to redeploy some of its troops in Iraq from their current base in the southern city of Basra into restive US-held areas but is still considering a response, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told parliament on Monday.
Britain was "considering" this, Hoon said, and a decision was expected later in the week.
According to a series of newspaper reports, around 650 British troops are expected to be sent to areas close to Baghad, relieving US troops currently based there so they can attack insurgents in the violence-wracked western city of Fallujah.
This would expose British troops to far greater peril than they currently face in Basra, which has proved relatively peaceful following the 2003 war to remove president Saddam Hussein.
Hoon said the US request, made on October 10, would not involve British troops serving either in Baghdad city itself or in Fallujah. But he did not specifying where they might go instead.
"The US request is for a limited number of UK ground forces to be made available to relieve US forces and to allow them, in turn, to participate in further operations elsewhere in Iraq, to maintain the continuing pressure on terrorists," Hoon told MPs.
"We are obviously considering this request," Hoon said, explaining that there were "a number of issues" to be resolved, such as the potential length of the deployment and command arrangements.
"None of these details have as yet been decided and a British reconnaissance team will deploy to the area tomorrow to provide further information which will inform the chiefs of staff," he said.
"I expect the final recommendation from the chief of the defence staff by the middle of the week."
Some opposition politicians and newspapers have suggested that the redeployment could be seen as a political boost for US President George W. Bush ahead of the November 2 US presidential election, a notion rejected by Hoon.
"Speculation this weekend has focused the suggestion that the request is somehow political and its timing linked to elections," he said.
"I want to make clear that the request is a military request.