THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ordered an infantry regiment known as the Tigers to be ready to boost British forces in Iraq. The second battalion of the Shropshire-based Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment is already completing final preparations to deploy.

Army chiefs have also drawn up plans to reinforce Black Watch soldiers based near Iraq’s “triangle of death” with tanks and possibly 100 Royal Marines from southern Iraq at least until the Scottish regiment returns to Britain next month.

Coming shortly after the deaths of three soldiers of the Black Watch, the preparations will bring accusations that Britain is being drawn deeper into the conflict.

Families of soldiers serving in Iraq plan to demonstrate in London this week to urge the government to withdraw British forces. The group, including relatives of Black Watch troops, will lay a wreath at Downing Street to mark the deaths of the 73 British soldiers killed during the conflict so far.

The five companies of Tigers would increase the number of British soldiers in Iraq by about 600 to more than 9,000. The decision suggests that MoD officials have been forced to revise their plans in the face of growing lawlessness and insurgency. Only 10 days ago Tony Blair told the Commons that there were no plans to send extra troops.

Nicholas Soames, the shadow defence secretary, accused the MoD of reinforcing by stealth. “I am very disturbed to hear of formed and substantial plans to deploy a further regiment to Iraq, thus resulting in an overall increase in troop commitment to Iraq,” he said.

“The government is again not being straight with the British people and parliament. The defence secretary must make a statement.”

Responsibility for the suicide attack on Thursday that killed three Black Watch members and an Iraqi interpreter and injured eight other soldiers was claimed on Friday night by followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader.

Major Charlie Mayo, a spokesman for British forces in Iraq, said the troops were facing their most serious test.

“If this is the work of Zarqawi’s group then it may be that the threat is higher than anything we have faced in the south against the Mahdi army — and that is a real concern,” he said.

“I can confirm that there are contingency plans in place to reinforce the Black Watch, should they require extra manpower and armour to carry out their mission.”

The Black Watch staged a series of night raids on Friday, searching for insurgency leaders and stockpiles of weapons. Troops equipped with night vision gear and aided by US air support stormed several homes but made no arrests and found nothing.

Military analysts expect the Tigers to leave for Iraq within a fortnight and to be stationed near Basra.

Scots Guards who are in southern Iraq could then be free to take over from the Black Watch, who are due to come home by Christmas, although it is more likely American troops will be deployed in the “triangle of death” instead.

The plans emerged as the Prince of Wales, who is colonel-in-chief of the Black Watch, visited Battlesbury barracks in Warminster, Wiltshire.

He met the families of soldiers serving in Iraq and gave condolences following the deaths of the three servicemen. The wife of Sergeant Stuart Gray, 31, one of those killed on Thursday, lives at the camp. The other men who died were Privates Paul Lowe, 19, and Scott McArdle, 22, all from Fife.

Some families have criticised the MoD for sending the 850 British troops into a danger zone 25 miles south of Baghdad with too few men and armour. The British force at Camp Dogwood is covering for US marines who are preparing an assault on Falluja.

Graham Calderwood, whose 19-year-old son is with the Black Watch outside Baghdad, said: “They say our boys have replaced up to 4,000 US marines in the area — the numbers simply do not add up.”

Martin McArdle, whose nephew Scott was killed in Thursday’s attack, said British troops should not be in Iraq.

The Black Watch’s commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel James Cowan, refused to comment yesterday on reports that he was the author of a series of e-mails that had expressed unease at the mission.

One said that the regiment expected “every lunatic terrorist from miles around to descend on us like bees to honey”. The author added: “I hope the government knows what it has got itself into.”

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