This came as the US announced deploying up to 3,500 more troops to Kuwait, to boost some 14,000 reinforcements already deployed to the region. The reinforcements would come from the 82nd Airborne Division's Global Response Force, which already supplied several hundred extra troops to the region earlier last week as tensions grew over an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad, a Pentagon official said Friday.

A Defense Department spokesperson said that the 82nd Airborne's Immediate Response Force brigade had already been notified earlier in that they could be sent to the region. "The brigade will deploy to Kuwait as an appropriate and precautionary action in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, and will assist in reconstituting the reserve," the official said.

In the meantime, a Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry source said that Kuwait has followed with extreme concern the recent unfortunate events in Iraq and the continued escalation in the region, the dangerous repercussions on security and stability of which it had previously warned of. In a statement on Friday, the source urged the utmost restraint and understanding in regards to these developments in order to reach a political resolution that avoids further escalation and risks in the region. The international community was also called on to hastily bear its responsibilities in maintaining the security and stability of this vital region of the world, steering it clear from escalating actions. - Agencies