Britain's Prince Harry will be serving in southern Iraq by the
end of the month with his army regiment, probably taking part
in reconnaissance missions near the Iran border, a newspaper has
reported.
A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said the Daily Mirror report
was "entirely speculative" because no final decisions
have been made on which units will relieve the 19th Light Brigade
currently in Iraq.
She added that the next handover is not even due until around
May.
But a senior military source told the Mirror that the decision
has been made to send Harry, a second lieutenant in the Blues
and Royals Regiment.
"The final details are being sorted, but he is definitely
going. Naturally, his royal status has to be taken into account
-- but he will see action," the source was quoted as saying.
Harry, 22, has made it clear he wants to be treated no differently
from other officers he trained with at the elite Sandhurst Military
Academy, from which he graduated last year.
Prince Harry is the second son of Prince Charles, who is heir
to the British throne, and the late Princess Diana.
The newspaper said Harry is likely to be in charge of a troop
of 12 soldiers in light armoured vehicles who will likely spend
days or even weeks out in the desert conducting reconnaissance
missions.
It added that Defence Secretary Des Browne is expected to announce
the news on February 26.
"He has insisted on being able to perform his duties as
any other officer would. He won't be just flying a desk,"
said a senior military source quoted by the newspaper.
"As a young officer Harry will want to go to war as a point
of pride. There would have been no point in him training for this
if that was never going to happen," the source said.
A total of 132 Britons have died serving in Iraq since the US-led
invasion in March 2003.
Some 7,100 British soldiers are currently deployed in Iraq, mainly
in and around its second city of Basra, although the government
in London says it hopes to withdraw "thousands" by the
end of this year.
British forces are deployed in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition
and have overall security responsibility for Basra and the surrounding
region, where rival Shiite militias and criminal gangs are vying
for supremacy.
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