Nearly 800 members of British forces began leaving their bases in southern Iraq on Wednesday, heading north toward Baghdad to replace United States troops who are expected to take part in an offensive against insurgent strongholds.
The deployment came hours after Iraq’s most feared militant group released a video threatening to behead a Japanese captive within 48 hours unless Japan withdraws its troops from Iraq.
The British troops, headquartered in Basra, are heading to an area near the capital to replace US troops who are expected to launch a major offensive against rebel areas west and north of the capital.
”We can confirm that there is some movement,” said British military spokesperson Major Charlie Mayo. He gave no specifics on troop numbers, citing security concerns.
Large flatbed trucks were seen carrying armoured British vehicles up a road through Iraq’s southern desert.
Nearly 800 Scottish soldiers of the First Battalion, Black Watch, are expected to be based in an area just south of the capital to free up American forces for an expected assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, and other areas.
The move is part of a coalition effort to bring order to Iraq before elections in January.
British officials have been vague on the precise destination, with some media reports indicating the Black Watch will be sent to Iskandariyah, north of Hillah.
The British soldiers’ families expressed worries on Wednesday that the redeployment puts the troops in greater danger.
”It wasn’t a cakewalk in Basra but it’s going to be a lot, lot more dangerous up there,” said James Buchanan (56), from Arbroath in central Scotland, who has two sons with the regiment in Iraq.
”They’re going to get one hell of a kicking this time,” he said.
The American military wants the British to assume security responsibility in areas close to Baghdad, so US marines and soldiers can be shifted to insurgent strongholds west of the capital, including Fallujah.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to agree to the US request for redeployment is a politically sensitive one for the British leader, whose popularity has plummeted because of his support for the Iraq war.
Britain’s 8 500 troops are based around the southern port city of Basra in a relatively peaceful area of Iraq. Sixty-eight British soldiers have been killed in Iraq, compared with more than 1 000 US troops.
The political pressure mounted with last week’s kidnapping of British aid worker Margaret Hassan, who heads Care International’s operations in Iraq. Hassan (59), who also holds Iraqi and Irish citizenship, was kidnapped on her way to work in Baghdad. No group has claimed responsibility.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said on Tuesday that more extremists are massing in Fallujah and warned of increasing terrorist attacks to come. On Saturday, insurgents ambushed and executed about 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers as they were heading home from a US military training camp north-east of Baghdad.
On Wednesday, a motorcycle bomber attacked a US convoy in central Iraq, killing one American soldier and wounding another, the US military said in a statement. The name of the soldier killed was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
‘They will take my head off’
In the hostage drama, a video posted on a militant website on Tuesday said a Japanese man was kidnapped by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group and vowed to kill him within 48 hours unless the demands are met.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejected the demands.
”The Self-Defence Forces will not withdraw,” Koizumi told reporters in western Japan. ”I cannot allow terrorism and cannot bow to terrorism.”
The captive, who has long hair and wore a white T-shirt, was identified only as someone connected to the Japanese armed forces.
He spoke briefly in halting English and Japanese, addressing himself to Koizumi.
”They asked me why Japanese government broke the law and sent troops to Iraq,” the man said in English. ”They want Japanese government and Koizumi prime minister, they want to withdraw the Japanese troops from Iraq or cut my head.”
He then paused, sighed and switched into Japanese.
”Mr Koizumi. They seek the withdrawal of Japanese Self-Defence Forces … [and say they] will take my head off,” the captive said. ”I’m sorry. I want to return to Japan again.”
The video’s authenticity could not be independently confirmed, but the Japanese government later identified the captive as 24-year-old Shosei Koda.
Tokyo has dispatched about 500 troops to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on a humanitarian mission to purify water and rebuild schools in support of US-led reconstruction efforts.
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura urged the hostage-takers to release Koda immediately, saying that he has nothing to do with Japan’s deployment in Iraq.
”Mr Koda is a private individual who is not related to the Self-Defence Forces or the government of Japan,” Machimura said.
When the captive finished speaking, the video showed him kneeling before three masked militants. One of them read a statement calling the man ”an element attached to the Japanese armed forces”.
”We give the Japanese government 48 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq, otherwise his fate will be the same as that of his predecessors, Berg and Bigley and other infidels,” the man said, referring to the beheadings of British engineer Kenneth Bigley and US businessman Nicholas Berg.
The man’s head was bowed to the floor as the militant spoke, and another of the militants grabbed him by the hair to face the camera.
The militant said the Japanese man had entered Iraq through Israel and Jordan.
”The documents that prove this will be displayed when his family and the Japanese government identify him,” he said.
The video, which lasted just less than three minutes, bore the logo of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the new name for al-Zarqawi’s group, which was previously known as Tawhid and Jihad and has allied itself with Osama bin Laden. The group has claimed responsibility for the beheadings of Bigley, two American co-workers and Berg, as well as numerous car bombings and other attacks.
The US has offered a $25-million bounty for the capture or killing of al-Zarqawi, who is believed to be hiding in the militant stronghold of Fallujah. — Sapa-AP