The British military presence in Afghanistan will top 8,000 by next spring with the commitment of 630 specialist troops to the country, the Defence Secretary announced today.

The move is part of a plan to refocus British efforts on reconstruction and the training of the Afghan police and army, Des Browne said. His announcement came on the day that the bodies of five British soldiers killed in Afghanistan last week arrived back in Britain.

Mr Browne said that an improving security situation, with Taleban operations confined to limited parts of the country, was cause for "adjustments to the profile of our forces in Afghanistan". The commitment will take troops numbers to the record level of 8,030; with the withdrawal of 400 troops, this represents a net increase of 230.

"My announcement today of a net uplift of 230 additional troops does not in proportionate terms represent a very significant increase. It does not mean our mission is expanding. It means we are taking the steps necessary to take our mission forward as effectively as we can," Mr Browne said.

Full details of the deployment have not yet been confirmed, but Mr Browne said that the Harrier jump jet force would be withdrawn by spring 2009 and replaced with an equivalent force of Tornado GR4s. Additional crews will be sent so that Chinook and Apache helicopters can spend more time in the air.

Other additions include soldiers to man additional Viking and Mastiff vehicles, further specialists to man reconnaissance and warning systems in Helmand and reinforcements for the RAF Regiment Squadron at Kandahar airbase. An extra troop of Royal Engineers will assist with projects to support local communities.

Calling Britain's involvement in Afghanistan "a noble endeavour", Mr Browne said the extra forces would improve protection for British personnel, aid training and mentoring for Afghan security services and boost reconstruction and development.

Explaining his decision to rebalance the British presence away from direct combat, Mr Browne said: "The green shoots of development and democracy are becoming ever more rooted in a security environment that is improved out of all measure".

Delivering a cautiously optimistic assessment, he said that there was a "tangible sense that life for many Afghans was improving". Taleban operations were largely "limited to intimidation", with an increasing use of mines, roadside bombs and suicide vests, tactics which Mr Browne said "run deeply counter to Afghan culture". He said that nine-tenths of the security incidents were confined to one tenth of the country.

Mr Browne called the Afghan National Army "a success story" which was "respected and admired by the Afghan people". British efforts would focus on developing leadership ability. He conceded however, that, "creating an effective police force is a more difficult challenge".

Pressed to say how long this training would take, Mr Browne said it was "impossible to put a time limit on when the army will be able to conduct security operations in large scale on its own".

The announcement came little more than an hour after the bodies of five British soldiers killed in Afghanistan arrived back in Britain. They were flown into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, where family members took part in a repatriation ceremony.

Mr Browne paid tribute to the men, saying he was "grateful for their service to the nation".

The soldiers, all from 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment were all killed in the past week. Private Daniel Gamble, 22, Private Nathan Cuthbertson, 19, and Private David Murray, 19, were blown up by a suicide bomber last Sunday.

Lance Corporal James Bateman, 29, and Private Jeff Doherty, 20, died after in a Taleban ambush on Thursday. It was the Regiment's worst week for casualties for casualties since the Falklands and takes to 102 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001.

A flypast took place at 2pm, after which the bodies were ceremonially removed from the plane which flew them home. Prayers were said before the flag-draped coffins were walked down the rear exit ramp of the C-17 transport plane to waiting hearses.

“The tradition of military repatriation to Britain allows their colleagues and loved ones to pay their respects,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said.

The bodies will be then be taken to Oxford and will be returned to the families after post mortems.

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