LONDON, May 28 (UPI) -- Britain's defense department said it was sending another 370 troops and 50 armored personnel carriers to Iraq, the Mirror reported Friday.
Geoff Hoon, the defense secretary, also said he was putting a crack unit of 600 Royal Marines on standby.
News of the new deployment of equipment and personnel follows an increase in attacks on soldiers in the U.K.-controlled Basra area.
"I would emphasize that these are sensible adjustments, at the request of the general officer commanding," Hoon told Parliament.
Rebel fighters, many loyal to Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, are using rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs against British patrols. Many attacks have been near the Iranian border around al-Amarah, 150 miles north of Basra.
"We want our people to be both better protected and able to respond more quickly to trouble," a British defense official said.
The new deployment will put the number of U.K. troops in Iraq at about 9,000.
