THOUSANDS of British combat troops are expected to be sent to one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. John Reid, the Defence Secretary, is said to be ready to announce that 4,000 soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade, built around the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, will be sent to the Helmand province to help with its reconstruction. There are about 1,000 British troops in Afghanistan now. The influx will be cut to 3,500 when engineers complete camp building.

Officially the role of the new troops will be to help the Afghan Government with provincial reconstruction, but ministers expect that they may be deployed against al-Qaeda groups and drug barons.

Apache helicopter gunships and Merlin and Chinook helicopters will accompany them, along with Harrier jets. The decision to send the Parachute Regiment underlines the risks of the mission. They will take over from US forces and lead a new Nato force.

Soldiers are now training on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, and learning about Afghanistan and its culture. Mr Reid will visit them before they embark.

Ministers have said that the rise in suicide bombings in Afghanistan is of great concern. Al-Qaeda forces have killed 100 US soldiers and thousands of civilians, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda group in Iraq is believed to have set up a new insurgency unit in southern Afghanistan.

The escalation in suicide attacks has raised alarm within Nato, which believes that the Taleban and its supporters are targeting southern Afghanistan because of the alliance’s plan to move into the region by spring, increasing the number of international troops in the country from 10,000 to 16,000.

Since the new year there has been a spate of suicide attacks, with one bomber killing at least 20 people in Spin Buldak on January 16. Another bomber killed three in Kandahar, including a Canadian diplomat, a day before.

There has been growing concern among member countries, particularly in the Netherlands, over extra troops. MPs on the Commons Defence Select Committee aired misgivings last week about sending British troops to Helmand, home to opium barons and one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan. The Paras will be expected to launch operations against them.

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