BRITAIN is preparing to increase the firepower of its forces in Iraq as the US army lays siege to the city of Najaf.

As revealed in yesterday's Northern Echo, soldiers from the region have been told to be ready to deploy to Iraq by the end of the week.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed troops from 5 Regiment Royal Artillery had been given orders to mobilize.

About 86 gunners will be flying to Iraq to join Operation Telic 4, starting tomorrow. Their arrival will boost the firepower of Britain's contingent and could prove decisive if the situation continues to deteriorate.

It is the third time 5 Regiment has sent soldiers to the Gulf from Marne Barracks, in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. Gunners from the unit were among the troops who swept into Iraq from Kuwait in March last year.

The gunners from 5 Regiment will join more than 200 soldiers from the Queen's Royal Lancers, who left Catterick's Cambrai Barracks for Iraq at the start of the month.

The move came as US forces laid siege to Najaf in an attempt to capture the cleric leading the uprising against coalition forces.

The 3rd Brigade Task Force, with Spanish and Polish troops, set up an exclusion zone around the city to prepare for a possible assault to capture Muqtada al-Sadr, who has been branded an outlaw by the US army.

Iraqi clerics and politicians launched negotiations with al-Sadr, trying to get him to back down and avert an attack. There were hopes last night he had dropped the conditions he imposed for opening negotiations with the US.

* The Italian Foreign Ministry last night confirmed that an Italian being held hostage in Iraq had been executed by his abductors.

Earlier, satellite television station al-Jazeera said it had received a videotape showing four Italian hostages sitting on the ground, surrounded by armed men.

The death of one of the Italians was captured on the tape, it said.