Read more from Mick Smith in his defence blog

SENIOR army officers fear Gordon Brown is going to cut the number of troops in Iraq to such a low level that their effectiveness is jeopardised and lives are endangered.

They say it is clear Brown is preparing to speed up the pull-out to draw a symbolic line under the Blair era.

Brown’s aides denied the suggestions last week but army sources said they expected numbers to be cut to 3,000 by the end of this year with a total withdrawal early next year.

“We are sitting ducks and have very little in the way of resources to react,” said one officer. “If we mount an operation to deter a mortar attack it takes an entire battle group and ties up all our people.”

Any further reductions in numbers, he said, would leave British troops “hanging onto Basra by our finger tips”.

Troops are currently in just two bases in southern Iraq – at Basra palace and the airport outside the city. This summer they will be pulled back to one base, at the airport.

The danger has been illustrated this weekend by continuing battles between British forces and fighters from the Mahdi army militia.

Several insurgents were killed in air strikes on Friday night after an attack on troops by fighters using rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machineguns.

Major David Gell, a British military spokesman, said in a statement that the attacks were believed to be in retaliation for the killing of the Mahdi army’s commander in the city on Friday by British-backed Iraqi special forces.

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