BRITISH hopes of an early withdrawal of troops from Iraq are being scuppered by the dramatic rise in suicide bombings and the increasing skill of the insurgents.

Military intelligence say that it is now having to view Iraq “in the same way as the Balkans (British troops still there after 13 years), the Falkland Islands (a significant garrison since 1982), and Cyprus (a 41-year UN commitment).”

“There is no decision on a timescale for withdrawal and it’s difficult to see how we can get things moving along faster, to start withdrawing by the end of this year or next. The scale of the attacks is bad news,” one military official said.

This view runs contrary to the assertion by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, during the election campaign that “the progressive run-down of forces is likely to happen next year . . . (and) over the next parliament British troops will be down to virtually nothing.”

But Whitehall officials said that no withdrawal of troops from Iraq is anticipated in the near future. They admit that although intelligence on the insurgents and suicide bombers is improving there are still too many gaps. The military has deployed state-of-the-art surveillance systems in Iraq but the terrorists were not obliging by using technical means to communicate, one official said.

John Reid, the new Defence Secretary, has already received briefings on Iraq from the Service chiefs. The British Government’s official position, repeated yesterday by Tony Blair, is that troops will stay in Iraq for as long the Government in Baghdad “needs them and wants them”.

Times Recommends

• Experts baffled by vanishing sea lions
• CIA caught in a dirty and secretive war
• Double life of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab