British troops rolled north from Basra on Wednesday to take over a deadly area near Baghdad and free up US troops for a widely expected attack on Falluja.‘‘Deployment has begun,’’ a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said in London. ‘‘I can give no further details. But they will be back for Christmas.’’A British column with Warrior armoured vehicles on flat-bed trucks headed north. The Warriors were fitted with extra slat armour to deflect rocket-propelled grenades—a weapon of choice for Iraqi insurgents.About 850 British troops, mainly from the Black Watch regiment, are due to deploy in a restive region just south of Baghdad, allowing US troops to reinforce units fighting insurgents in rebel-held Falluja and elsewhere.
