LONDON, Oct 19 (AFP) - Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday that British troops would only be deployed to the dangerous US-controlled sector of Iraq from the more peaceful British zone if it is military justified.
"There has been a request by the American military to the British military, not a political request from the US president to me," Blair said the day after Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced Britain was considering the move.
"No decision will be taken to re-deploy British troops unless it is clear militarily that that should and can happen," Blair said after a Downing Street meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
It is widely expected that the troops -- reported to be around 650 members of the Scottish-based Black Watch regiment -- will go to towns just south of Baghdad that have been plagued by fighting since last year's war to remove president Saddam Hussein.
Such a move could spell political trouble for Blair, especially given speculation that the move is planned as a political boost to his close war ally, US President George W. Bush, ahead of the November 2 US election.
"The only elections that matter in this regard are the Iraqi elections that happen next January," Blair told journalists inside Downing Street.
Blair said a decision on the movement of British troops would not be made until the military assessment currently taking place on the ground in Iraq had been completed.
"I am not saying this deployment is going to go ahead in the next few days," he said.