Denmark has said it will send an extra 90 troops to Iraq to bolster its 400-strong peacekeeping contingent. Defence Minister Svend Aage Jensby said the reinforcements were needed to deal with the extra workload and the rising crime rate facing the contingent, which is based in the southern Basra sector under British command. The Danish parliament is expected to approve the deployment when it returns from its summer break in early October. A majority of Danish MPs are known to have backed the idea of bolstering the force since the first Danish casualty occurred in Iraq last month. Corporal Preben Pedersen, 34, was killed by friendly fire near Basra on 16 August. But Mr Jensby has come under fire from opposition MPs for allegedly misinforming them about the death, which he initially described as a combat incident. Copenhagen has also been involved in plans for the post-war redevelopment of the country. A veteran Danish diplomat, Ole Woehler Olsen, was appointed in May as the regional co-ordinator in the province of Basra.
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