British troops may be in Iraq until 2012

LONDON (Reuters) - British troops could be serving in Iraq for at least another five years, the Sunday Telegraph reported, quoting what it said was a confidential military planning document.

The paper said the document, parts of which had been disclosed to the newspaper, "reveals that troops will be serving on operations in the Gulf until at least 2012".

It said the document, which listed units to be sent on operations, showed a mechanised brigade was scheduled to return to Iraq in 2012.

Asked about the report, a Defence Ministry spokeswoman said: "The military plans a long way ahead for all possibilities and eventualities. This does not mean that any of these possibilities are going to happen."

Prime Minister Tony Blair said in February Britain would reduce its troop levels in Iraq from 7,100 to 5,500 in the coming months, but its soldiers would stay in the country into 2008, "for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do".

On Thursday, four British soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in a roadside bomb blast that destroyed their armoured vehicle in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

The deaths brought to six the number of British soldiers killed in Iraq last week, making it one of the deadliest for British forces since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Altogether, 140 British soldiers have died in Iraq.