Black Watch on standby for Iraq return as crisis deepens

• Black Watch may return to Iraq to run a multi national division in Najaf

• MOD says no decision taken on sending UK troops to Najaf region yet

• Black Watch Infantry have proved fighting skills in raid 6 April, Basra

Key Quote: "We have known about this for the last two or three days, and we are just waiting to hear for sure if we are going to go." - Source within the regiment

Story in full: THE Black Watch have been told to prepare for a return to Iraq - less than a year after they came home victorious from the war against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Sources within the regiment said yesterday they were told a couple of days ago that they should expect to return to Iraq at short notice.

The regiment garnered plaudits from around the world for the astute way in which they handled both the fighting and the post-war transition period, pioneering the ‘soft hats and no body armour’ approach that initially won over the population of southern Iraq.

With relations between the coalition forces strained by disagreements over the handling of the situation in Iraq, British commanders are desperate to prevent United States troops engaging forces loyal to the rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf.

US forces, who have moved in to take over positions held by Spanish troops outside the city, seized control of the governor’s office yesterday in an operation backed by tanks and armoured fighting vehicles.

An estimated 40 insurgents were reported killed in fighting around Najaf.

Sources inside the Black Watch say they have been warned to expect an announcement within the next week on their return to Iraq to take over the running of the multi-national division based in the Najaf region.

One soldier said they had been put on 24 hours’ notice to move.

British forces are now so thinly stretched that commanders have been forced to turn to the Black Watch, even though they have had just ten months away from the front line instead of the two and half years that they would expect.

Yesterday, a source within the regiment said: "We have known about this for the last two or three days, and we are just waiting to hear for sure if we are going to go.

"We have been told to be ready to move at short notice."

The Ministry of Defence said no decision had yet been taken, and that if British troops were sent to Najaf, the move would be announced in the House of Commons.

But MoD sources said they believed that a further British deployment was almost inevitable.

One said: "Everybody has been told that they might have to go again, and the Black Watch have had nearly a year between operations, which is more than many. I would not be hugely surprised if they were asked to go again."

The suggestion that British troops might take over the Spanish role - first raised in The Scotsman more than two weeks ago - is fraught with logistical difficulty.

It would entail the establishment of a new supply line up to Najaf, independent of the current British supply chain which runs up through Basra and on to al-Amarah, a town close to the Iranian border but on the main Route 6 corridor to Baghdad.

British commanders have already earmarked a force of 800 Royal Marines, who were also involved in the operation to capture Basra last year, for the operation, but the problematic security situation in southern Iraq has convinced them that the new operation will need to include an armoured infantry regiment.

The Black Watch, which is equipped with Warrior armoured vehicles, would fit the bill perfectly, despite having had just ten months to recuperate after returning from Iraq.

They have the experience and are familiar with the region, and their reputation as Scotland’s premier infantry regiment was further enhanced last year when they fought their way through to Basra and ultimately triggered the fall of the city when they routed Iraqi forces during a raid on 6 April.

The majority of the regiment returned to Germany at the end of June last year.

On Wednesday, Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said discussions were continuing with the US about possible deployment of additional British troops to areas of Iraq outside the UK-administered south.

He added that British and US soldiers would remain in Iraq after the hand-over of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi administration on 30 June.

Najaf has been the scene of fierce attacks by insurgents on coalition forces.

The city acts as a base for Sadr and his militia, the al-Mahdi army.