"The Black Watch achieved full operational capability today," Hoon said, referring to soldiers from the Scottish regiment now based 20 kilometersmiles) south of Baghdad.

"I'm confident that they will be back in their base within 30 days," he said, giving evidence on the controversial deployment to MPs at a regular meeting of Britain's parliamentary defence committee.

He said the Black Watch battle group was based at Camp Dogwood, a vast area with a perimeter of some 40 kilometres, to "maintain stability in a particular defined area".

The group has come under attack from mortars on three of its four nights at the camp so far.

Britain's 8,500-strong military force in Iraq is headquartered in the southern city of Basra, a relatively calm Shiite Muslim region compared to the daily car bombings and kidnappings that shake the provinces around Baghdad.

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