Britain has received a request from the United States for help from British troops in Iraq, British Defence Secretary Mr Geoff Hoon announced today.
Mr Hoon told the House of Parliment that the British troops would not be required to serve in Baghdad or Fallujah.
He said no decisions had yet been made and a reconnaissance team would be going to the relevant area - not named by Mr Hoon - tomorrow to gather information for the Chiefs of Staff.
Mr Hoon stressed: "The request is a military request." It was not linked to the US elections but the Iraqi elections, scheduled for January.
Shadow defence secretary Mr Nicholas Soames and ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith asked whether British troops operating under American rules of engagement could be subject to prosecution under International Criminal Court (ICC) rules.
Mr Hoon refused to discuss details of the troops' rules of engagement but said ICC action would only ever be taken where the soldiers' own country would not take action. "We would take action," he said.