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UK to deploy naval force in Gulf
LONDON, England -- Britain is to send a task force of six Royal Navy vessels, led by the aircraft carrier the Ark Royal, to the Gulf early next year. The Ministry of Defence in London told CNN on Sunday that the deployment was part of a routine, long planned exercise which would end in the Asia-Pacific region. But it comes amid growing expectations that Britain could soon be involved in armed conflict with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. As well as the Ark Royal, the fleet will also include the destroyer HMS Liverpool, the frigate HMS Marlborough and a submarine. A statement on the MoD Web site said: "A Royal Navy Task Group would deploy to the Asia Pacific region in 2003 to take part in Operation Flying Fish, an exercise with the UK's partners under the Five Power Defence Arrangements, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. "The group will visit over 25 allies and partners en route in the Mediterranean, Gulf, Indian Ocean and Pacific, and undertake several training exercises." The MoD denied British Sunday newspaper reports that the government was about to announce the deployment of a ground force of some 20,000 British troops to the Gulf. A spokesman told Reuters: "At the moment there are no plans for military action. "We will see what the outcome of the United Nations process will be, and there are no plans for a decision before then. "We are making contingency plans. We have stated on many occasions that war with Iraq is not inevitable or imminent." Meanwhile, an ICM poll for Sunday's tabloid News of the World newspaper found that 61 percent of Britons supported a military attack on Iraq if there was concrete evidence that President Saddam Hussein had acquired new chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Without any fresh evidence, only 38 percent would back a war.
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