By IRNA
London : The British government has extended the call-up of reservists to support operations in Iraq despite plans to virtual half the number of deployed troops to just 2,500 by April this year.
“With the expiry of the call-out order made last January, I am reporting that a new order has been under Section 54 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 so that reservists may continue to be called out into service,” Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth.
The new order, valid for another 12 months, was to support operations in Iraq, Ainsworth said in a written ministerial statement to parliament, published Tuesday.
It is estimated that some 270 reservists are currently mobilized and deployed to support operations in Iraq due to the overstretch of Britain’s armed forces. Regular call-out orders are also issued for the UK’s military operations in Afghanistan.