Mobilisation gathers pace with call-up of 4,500 more reservists

The numbers of British military reservists being called up for an Iraq war tripled yesterday when the Government ordered the mobilisation of a further 4,500.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said numbers had been increased to provide cover for the 30,000 troops being deployed in the Gulf.

"Further contingency planning has now clarified the likely size and shape of our additional requirements," he said in a written Commons answer. "Our latest assessment is that our overall requirement is likely to be up to 6,000, including those currently in the process of mobilisation.

"The size of the requirement will remain under review as our planning continues. Call-out notices will be sent out in the next two weeks." So far, the Ministry of Defence has issued about 2,000 such notices.

The size of the initial batch of reservists was seen as falling far short of the numbers required. The Army's mobilisation centre in Nottinghamshire had 6,500 sets of equipment and inoculations ready for the expected number.

The MoD did not have the figures for the total number of reservists called up for the 1991 Gulf War, but 1,774 saw service. Nearly 50,000 troops took part in the 1991 war. The current mobilisation of reservists is far higher than the numbers for the Falklands or Suez.

Among those receiving notices would be medics, engineers and communication experts as well as intelligence specialists trained in analysing satellite photographs.

The deployment includes Britain's biggest naval group in 20 years, made up of warships, an aircraft carrier, a helicopter carrier and a submarine and carrying 3,000 Royal Marines and some 5,000 sailors.

The armed forces are already stretched because 19,000 troops are covering for firefighters during strikes.