Around 4,000 more British troops are to be sent to Iraq to take control of Najaf, a Shiite holy city plagued by heavy clashes between Shiite insurgents and the coalition forces, Daily Telegraph reports Saturday.

The troops will begin arriving in Najaf, some 160 km south of Baghdad, in the next few weeks to plug the gap left by the 1,300 Spanish soldiers withdrawn from Iraq last week, said the paper.

But the British government has not confirmed the report. "Thereis no formal decision on this issue," said a spokesperson from theMinistry of Defense, in an interview with Xinhua on Sunday.

The newspaper said the additional troops will include soldiers from the Royal Marine Commandos, a Parachute Regiment battalion and an infantry battalion, as well as supporting elements from artillery and logistics units.

The first move of deployment began Thursday when a strategic reconnaissance team of senior officers from the Permanent Joint Headquarters, at Northwood, Middlesex, flew to Iraq, the report said.

In Najaf, Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric who vehemently opposed the US-led occupation force, has established a 3,000-strong radical militia Mehdi Army. The United States has vowed to "capture or kill" Sadr and destroy the Mehdi Army.

In response, Sadr pledged that his followers would "resort to martyr operations" if US occupation forces storm Shiite holy cities, including Najaf and Karbala in the south of the country.

The bloody confrontation between the coalition troops and supporters of Sadr in Najaf began four weeks ago when Shiite protesters marched outside the garrison of the Spanish military contingent.

Source: Xinhua