US keeps troop levels up after deadly April

Commanders plan to keep US troops at their current levels in Iraq – about 135,000 – until the end of 2005, defence department officials have said.

The decision acknowledges Iraq is much more unstable and dangerous than US generals had hoped earlier this year, when they planned to cut the number of troops occupying Iraq to about 115,000.

Since then, violence by Sunni and Shiite Muslim extremists has surged, making April the deadliest month for American troops since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Several US allies also decided to pull their forces out, most notably Spain, which had more than 2,300 troops in one of the most volatile areas of south-central Iraq.

US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday ordered about 10,000 active-duty army soldiers and marines to prepare to ship out to Iraq in the next few months.

They will help replace 20,000 US troops being kept in Iraq for as long as three months past their one-year tours of duty.

Another 10,000 active-duty troops would be called up to fill out the replacement forces, Rumsfeld said.

The troops coming into Iraq will be more heavily armed than the forces they replace, with more tanks, armoured personnel carriers and armoured Humvees, said Lt Gen Norton Schwartz of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

“The mission remains essentially the same. It’s security and stability,” Schwartz said.