British troops in Iraq begin deployment

Nearly 800 British forces left their base in southern Iraq on Wednesday, heading north toward Baghdad to replace U.S. troops who are expected to take part in an offensive against insurgent strongholds.

The deployment came hours after Iraq's most feared militant group released a video threatening to behead a Japanese captive within 48 hours unless Japan withdraws its troops from Iraq.

British Lt. Col. James Cowan said British troops, accompanied by 40 U.S. Marines, left the southern city of Basra to head for a base located north of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Forty U.S. Marines were with them, he said.

Associated Press Television News footage showed large flatbed trucks carrying armored British vehicles up a road through Iraq's southern desert...

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