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The US Army said yesterday that it was sending 2600 soldiers to Iraq earlier than planned, raising the number of extra US troops being deployed in a new effort to stabilise the country to nearly 30,000.
News of the latest deployment came as Democrats, who now control Congress, pushed legislation to end a war that is increasingly unpopular in the United States.
The combat aviation brigade from the US Army's Third Infantry Division would deploy in early May, 45 days sooner than previously envisaged, the Army said.
The brigade is the third element to be announced in a package of support units being deployed to assist 21,500 extra combat troops ordered to Iraq under a plan unveiled by President George W Bush in January.
There are more than 140,000 US troops already fighting in Iraq, where sectarian violence has thwarted American efforts to bring the four-year-old war to a close.
- REUTERS
