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GORDON BROWN has been warned by senior army officers that delaying withdrawal from Iraq will lead to an increase in the number of British troops being killed.

Senior officers believe an imminent concentration of troops in one base at Basra international airport is bound to lead to the Iraqi militias intensifying their attacks.

The warning comes as new figures show that the airport and a second base at the Basra Palace have been hit by more than 300 rocket and mortar attacks in the past two months, more than in all the previous four years put together.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) disclosed that 50 soldiers had been seriously wounded in Iraq from January until mid-July, more than in any year including 2003, when the invasion took place. A further 41 have been killed.

“We have seen a clear increase in attacks as the enemy try to take the initiative,” said one senior officer. “The longer we sit and wait, I fear the more soldiers will die. We need to be given a clear mission or get out.”

There is serious concern among senior commanders that Brown agreed to a request from George Bush to delay any decision to withdraw British troops from Iraq until after the American commander, General David Petraeus, gives a “progress report” to Congress next month.

The deal, designed to prevent the president coming under domestic political pressure to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces, was agreed during the prime minister’s visit to Washington last month.

The MoD said the attacks were part of the jockeying for power that was going on in Basra ahead of the British withdrawal.

“We see this as an attempt by the militias to claim credit for ‘driving us out’,” a spokesman said. “But irrespective of what they may claim, this is not the case.”

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