An extra 220 British troops are to be sent to Iraq to take over from Dutch forces which are being pulled out, it was announced today.

The 1,400-strong contingent from the Netherlands, responsible for stabilising the Al Muthanna province in south east Iraq, is due to return home in March. British military chiefs believe only 600 soldiers are needed to replace them as "good progress" has been made training Iraqi security forces.

Most of those will come from UK units already deployed in Iraq, mainly the Queen's Dragoon Guards and the 2nd Battalion the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. But 220 more will be sent to provide logistics and other "essential support".

The decision was announced by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, in a written statement to the House of Commons. He pointed out that the overall number of UK troops in Iraq was due to fall in February when 400 sent to bolster security in the run-up to Sunday's elections return home.

Mr Hoon said: "A small number of additional personnel will need to be deployed to provide logistics and other essential support to the force in Al Muthanna.This will temporarily increase the total number of UK personnel in Iraq by approximately 222, although this will subsequently fall to approximately 150 once the initial deployment is completed."

The announcement came as Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy called for all British troops to be pulled out of Iraq as soon as possible after Sunday's elections.

He said: "I would like to see a phased withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, as soon as the situation allows. I would like to see the replacement of British troops with those from other countries, especially Islamic countries. I would like to see a proper exit strategy set out by London and Washington, with a timeline that augments and supports the democratic process."

Mr Kennedy said the elections were unlikely to see an end to the violence and Iraq would remain a threat for years to come. But the mere presence of British and US troops contributed to the insurgency.

The Iraqi Defence Ministry announced it would deploy an extra 2,500 troops to guard the weekend elections. Altogether, about 300,000 Iraqi and multinational troops will provide security for the vote with Iraq's US-trained forces taking the lead role.

Around 9,000 Iraqi troops are also being deployed to guard oil pipelines. The statement said: "Due to several attacks on our trains transporting oil, the ministry decided to dispatch 10 new battalions to guard the Mosul-Baghdad and Kirkuk-Baghdad oil pipelines."

Meanwhile insurgents launched fresh attacks in their campaign to undermine the elections, bombing polling stations and killing at least a dozen people including one US Marine.

The Marine was killed and five others injured during a mortar barrage on their base near Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad. Three Iraqi civilians were killed in a house in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, when a car bomb exploded nearby.

Hours later, mortar shells fell on a polling station in Samarra and armed men blew up a school administration building which had also been designated as a voting centre. Sporadic clashes erupted in Samarra between US troops and armed men, killing one Iraqi civilian and injuring another.

In Kirkuk, insurgents attacked seven polling stations with mortar shells and machine guns and opened fire on a police patrol, killing one policeman. A suicide car bomber struck a US military convoy near the northern city of Beiji. Another three Iraqis were killed and seven injured when a roadside bomb missed a US convoy in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

An Iraqi soldier was killed and five civilians and two Iraqi police officers were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded near an army patrol in Baqouba. Near Tikrit, a roadside bomb killed one Iraqi bystander and narrowly missed another passing US military convoy.

In Ramadi, capital of the unruly province of Anbar west of Baghdad, another Iraqi National Guard soldier was killed when insurgents attacked a joint US-Iraqi force guarding a voting centre at a school.

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