WASHINGTON, May 30: The US military has deployed about 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to back up US and Iraqi forces trying to restore order in western Al Anbar province, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday.

Gen George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, ordered the deployment of two armoured battalions from Kuwait, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Mr Whitman said the extra troops were called in to back up ongoing efforts by US and Iraqi forces to establish rule of law in Anbar province and ‘reduce Al Qaeda’s ability to influence in this key area’.

The deployment will effectively increase the US force levels in Iraq from 15 to 16 brigades, and was the latest sign of dimming prospects for a sizeable drawdown of US forces from Iraq this year.

It comes amid an intensifying struggle for control of Al Amber’s provincial capital, Ramadi, where Al Qaeda-led guerillas are believed responsible for a wave of assassinations of local leaders and attacks on US marines.

Brig Gen Carter Ham, a deputy director of operations of the Joint Staff, has called Ramadi ‘the most contentious city in Iraq’ and said Al Qaeda in Iraq was trying to turn it into a safe haven.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad acknowledged in an interview with CNN last week that guerillas control parts of Al Anbar.

In a statement, the Multi-National Corps-Iraq said the troop move involves a two-battalion task force from the 1st Armoured Division’s 2nd Brigade based in Kuwait.

A third battalion from the brigade was deployed to the Baghdad area in March after a surge of sectarian violence sparked by the bombing of a mosque in Samarra.

“This particular brigade only has three ground combat battalions,” said Mr Whitman. He said other support units such as artillery and engineer battalions were not moving forward.—AFP