LONDON, Dec 10: A row brewed on Friday over who was to blame for deaths of British troops in Iraq last month after Britain's top military officer accused the news media of making it easier for militants to stage attacks.

Michael Walker, the chief of Defence Staff, told the BBC on Thursday night that attacks on the Black Watch regiment may have been prompted by media coverage of their deployment to a dangerous US-controlled zone in central Iraq in November.

However, the Daily Mail newspaper reported that his remarks angered relatives of Black Watch troops and supporters of the regiment who said that it had been Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon who gave details of the unit's deployment.

Five members of the 850-strong battle-group were killed during their month-long mission to Camp Dogwood, near Baghdad, and the unit came under regular attacks with roadside bombs, mortar fire, grenades and small arms.

"I think that the contribution towards the initial attacks against the Black Watch was certainly enhanced by, if you like, a media picture that was being laid across a number of channels in all sorts of places," Mr Walker said.

"Clearly there was... as a result of that, there could well have been a response by those who wished us ill to go and meet us with something like a bomb," said Mr Walker, who was interviewed by BBC2's News night on Thursday.

Most of the attacks on the Black Watch came in the early stages of their mission, at a time when their redeployment to US-controlled central Iraq was the subject of intense media attention, he said.

A series of roadside bombs were planted along the route used by the regiment as it travelled from the southern city of Basra to Camp Dogwood and the camp came under attack within hours of the troops' arrival.

"Certainly the attacks against the Black Watch happened at that stage," Mr Walker said. "And I'm certain, too, that the media coverage would have made it easier for anybody who wanted to conduct those attacks to do so," he added.

But Jeff Duncan, a supporter of the Black Watch and other Scottish regiments, told the Daily Mail that it had been the government and senior military staff who had released details.

"I said at the time it was a terrorists' timetable they were printing," Mr Duncan was quoted as saying. "Instead, they should have said they could not comment for operational reasons. To blame the media in this way is outrageous." -AFP