Troops from the Black Watch regiment were west of
Mahmoudiya, about 15 miles south of Baghdad, Sky News television reported.
The ministry would not confirm the exact location of the base.
"We can confirm they have arrived at their destination," a spokeswoman said
on customary condition of anonymity.
The British Broadcasting Corp. said the base was in a relatively unpopulated
area away from the dangerous Sunni towns that have seen many attacks on U.S. and
allied forces.
The decision to agree to the U.S. request for redeployment is a politically
sensitive one for Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose popularity has plummeted
because of his support for the Iraq war. Some Britons have expressed concern
that the troops will be in greater danger in a region that has seen far more
violence than their base in the southern region of Basra.
A small group from the Black Watch arrived at the base by road Thursday. The
rest of the 850-strong battle group was flown from Basra to avoid the dangerous
road trip.
The bulk of Britain's 8,500 troops in Iraq — the second-largest foreign
contingent, after the United States — are based around the port city of Basra.
Sixty-eight British soldiers have been killed in Iraq.
The American military wants the British to assume security responsibility in
areas close to Baghdad so U.S. Marines and soldiers can be shifted to insurgency
strongholds west of the capital, including Fallujah.
Black Watch soldiers have been told by their commanders that their deployment
will be for a maximum of 30 days. Officials have refused to say which, if any,
regiment might replace them.
Some soldiers were angry at the handling of their sudden deployment.
"I'm nervous and angry," said Pvt. Manny Lynch, 19, according to a pool
report from the Daily Express newspaper made available to the British media. "I
was supposed to be going home last Monday and I only found out that I was being
deployed four days before."
