Three British soldiers have been killed in an attack south of Baghdad, as a major offensive into the mujahideen stronghold of Fallujah appears imminent:

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Three newly-redeployed British soldiers were killed in an attack south of Baghdad, as the Iraqi rebel city of Fallujah braced for an all-out assault after US President George W. Bush’s re-election.

Britain’s armed forces minister, Adam Ingram, said the troops were killed along with an Iraqi interpreter in a suicide and mortar attack at a checkpoint. Eight troops of the Black Watch regiment were injured.

A total of 73 British troops have died in Iraq since US-led forces invaded the country in March 2003, 34 of them in combat.

But the latest deaths were the first among the Black Watch soldiers since several hundred of them were redeployed from south Iraq to more dangerous areas near Baghdad to relieve US troops preparing for an offensive in Fallujah.