Task force set for the Gulf

British forces are to be sent to the Gulf in the next few weeks as preparations for war against Saddam Hussein are intensified.

Army and air force units will be moved to bases in Kuwait and Bahrain while a small naval task force led by the carrier Ark Royal is to leave for exercises in the Gulf at the beginning of next month.

Ministers are also set to announce they are chartering cargo vessels to transport heavy equipment, including tanks, to the region.

There were claims today that the total number of troops from the US and Britain would be 300,000 and that UK defence firms would be served Urgent Operational Requirement notices to speed up the production of missiles and other equipment.

However, the Ministry of Defence was quick to play down the reports. A spokesman said: "Military action is neither imminent nor inevitable and the diplomatic route is still being pursued." Nevertheless, there were clear signs of a bigger buildup with British Army units preparing for action under tight security for the past two weeks.

Some are to undergo training by specialists from the chemical and biological warfare research centre at Porton Down.

Work has been carried out to modify Challenger 2 tanks and AS90 self-propelled howitzers for the harsh desert conditions of southern Iraq.

Howitzer units and regiments with multi-launch rocket systems have pooled or "cannibalised" their equipment to form a single artillery brigade.

Britain is likely to fulfil America's request to send a small armoured division of about 20,000 troops from the 7th and 4th Armoured Brigades based in Germany.

The RAF is expected to reinforce its squadrons of Tornado fighters and fighter-bombers in Bahrain and at Incirlik in Turkey.

The latest moves come amid claims that President Bush is set to announce within days that the US is not satisfied with Iraq's dossier on its weapons programme supplied to the United Nations. America's tough stance was confirmed by Secretary of State Colin Powell in his first public comments since the inventory of weapons was handed over.

"We said at the very beginning that we approached it with scepticism, and the information I've received so far is that scepticism is well-founded," Mr Powell said. He added the declaration was suspect, particularly over biological and chemical weapons and said using force to disarm the Iraqi president still remained an option.

A senior White House official said the administration would have an official reaction to the 12,000-page dossier by the end of the week. It is understood it avoids mention of the 17 tonnes of biological and chemicalagents the UN inspectors identified in Iraq in 1998, when they were last thrown out. In addition there is a large quantity of primary chemical materials unaccounted for.

According to defence analysts on both sides of the Atlantic, Saddam Hussein is hoping to play for time, to split the American-British alliance and stir up trouble across the region.

So far he has not pulled back the bulk of his tank forces, currently facing the Kurds in the north, to defend Baghdad. The withdrawal could be the signal for an allout Kurdish rebellion, in which British and American forces are likely to be involved.