NEW DELHI, June 18: A top Indian army official said on Wednesday that troops could be deployed at “short notice” to Iraq for peacekeeping operations if the government agrees to a US request.

“All battle procedures are in place for deployment if the government so desires,” the chief of India’s defence intelligence agency, Lieutenant General Kamal Davar said Wednesday.

However, he added that the army had told the government that the troops should operate under New Delhi’s control.

On Monday, top Indian government officials sought clarifications from a visiting Pentagon team on issues such as command and control, compensation for soldiers killed and the nature of operations in which they would take part.

Last week, US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill told reporters the United States was not seeking combat troops from India and that if New Delhi does decide to send troops, they would work under the Indian flag.

The issue of sending troops to Iraq has become a huge domestic political problem for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as the main opposition Congress party and others have strenuously opposed the move.

HOSPITAL SITE: India may be agonising over whether to send troops to Iraq as part of stablization force, but it has already sent a four-man team to survey sites to set up a military hospital, a report said on Wednesday.