News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		31-01-2006 Scotsman Casualty figures are 'wrong', admits Reid By Gethin Chamberlain OFFICIAL figures for the number of UK troops injured in Iraq may have to be corrected, the Defence Secretary admitted yesterday. John Reid conceded that the previously published statistic of 230 soldiers injured in action did not reflect the true scale of British casualties and that there may have been many more. Yesterday, The Scotsman revealed the Ministry of Defence had seriously underestimated the number of soldiers injured since the start of the war by only counting admissions to one field hospital. The true figure is believed to be closer to 800. Speaking on a visit to Rosyth, Mr Reid blamed the discrepancies on problems in collating casualty figures from individual units. He said that United States forces, which do publish full details of casualties, had more clerical staff available to handle the figures. He said the MoD intended to review the figures, adding: "If we have to make adjustments, we will." The MoD has already admitted that the figures do not reflect the true scale of British casualties, with a spokesman describing them as "not great statistics". But Mr Reid denied that he had deliberately given out incorrect figures. "I utterly refute the imputation that there has been an attempt to mislead," he said. Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that there will be a reduction of about 2,200 in the size of the British Army in Germany, a move which is expected to lead to thousands more soldiers being based in Scotland. The MoD said that 19 Brigade, currently based at Catterick in North Yorkshire, would move to Scotland and Northern Ireland to make way for 4 Brigade, which will be leaving Germany. The moves are not expected before 2008 at the earliest and the MoD was yesterday unable to say where the additional soldiers would be garrisoned.
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