BAGHDAD, Dec 28: An extra 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Baghdad ahead of January's elections, a top US commander said Tuesday, sketching a plan to tackle an expected surge in violence in the run up to polling day.

"We anticipate more assassinations and car bombs," Brigadier General Jeffrey Hammond of the 1st Cavalry Division told reporters. "We face an evil and pathetic minority that is after one thing: spreading fear to gain power."

Task Force Baghdad - which includes about 34,000 US and other foreign troops and military personnel - has already been boosted by 5,000 soldiers ahead of the legislative elections, according to Hammond.

This is comprised of 3,500 soldiers of the 1st Cavalry's Second Brigade, whose tour of duty was extended, and 1,500 new soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division. US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld said last week that the total number of US troops in Iraq has already been increased to 150,000 from 138,000 for the elections.

Hammond repeated what US military and government officials have been stressing both here and in Washington - that primary responsibility for securing elections would be with Iraqi forces despite serious concerns over their readiness for the task.

"Iraqi security forces will be in the lead," he said. "We do not have a role in operating polling stations or any other aspect of the electoral process, we are prepared to assist when called."

He expressed confidence that a force of about 7,500 national guardsmen in Baghdad trained and mentored by 540 officers from his division are ready to handle the challenges of securing the country's first democratic elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

"This is not the ICDC of the past; these guys want to be part of the solutions," he said referring to the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps, the national guard's predecessor.

US-led multinational force spokesman Brigadier General Erv Lessel told AFP Monday that the plan on election day was to have Iraqi police and other security forces at polling sites, which Hammond said are expected to number 1,400 in Baghdad.

There would be an outer ring of Iraqi police, national guard and other security forces and US-led forces would be further out providing support in an "on-call capacity."