There was now no official target date for British soldiers to leave Iraq amid fears it is heading into full-scale civil war, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said.

The original plan, never announced by Defence Secretary John Reid, would have seen thousands of British troops returned home by next month, with the remainder home by mid-2006, the paper said.

However, citing anonymous military sources, the report said that instead, troops would stay indefinitely in what some in the military believe is a situation becoming the equivalent of the Vietnam War.

According to the paper, ministers are also set to announce the deployment of around 6,000 soldiers from the army's 7th Armoured Brigade into Iraq for a second tour of duty.

The brigade fought in Iraq during the US-led invasion of the country in March 2003.

The dispatch of the brigade contradicts a government plan drawn up two months ago by Reid to gradually reduce Britain's military presence, around 8,500 personnel based mainly around the southern city of Basra.

One serving British Army brigadier, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the paper that the military was increasingly worried about the long-term commitment to Iraq.

"The return of the 7th Armoured Brigade to Iraq is a significant benchmark," he said.

"There is a real head-in-the-sand mentality as to how we're going to extricate ourselves from this mess. There is no endgame to the problems in Iraq."

More than 200 Iraqi Shiites have been killed this week alone in attacks by Sunni extremists, with a car bomb killing at least 30 on the outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday.

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