The United States is to boost its troop strength in Iraq to about 150,000 from 138,000 for the Iraqi election set for January 30th.
"There will be some short-term deployments of additional troops to help with security," an official said in Washington. "This will all boost our military presence to about 150,000 over the short term."
Iraq's president, Mr Ghazi al-Yawar
, said the election should go ahead on time, distancing himself from other leading Sunni Arab politicians who are demanding the polls be put off to a later date because of widespread unrest.
Mr Yawar, a Sunni businessman and tribal elder appointed to the largely symbolic post of president in June, is the first prominent Sunni to reject calls for a postponement.
"We must go ahead with elections, from a legal and a moral point of view . . . it's my personal view they should go ahead on time," he said.
Iraq's interim constitution, endorsed by the United Nations, says elections must be held by the end of January to select a transitional assembly that will pick a new cabinet and oversee the drafting of a permanent constitution.
Several leading Sunni Arab parties have called for the elections to be postponed by up to six months. Many say they will boycott the polls if they are held in January.