§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Army explosive ordnance disposal team are currently working in(a) Kuwait, (b) southern Iraq and (c) Kurdish Iraq; and how long the team is expected to continue in the region.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThere are currently 10 explosive ordnance disposal—EOD—personnel in Kuwait, none in southern Iraq and nine in northern Iraq. In addition. there are two in Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia. An advance party of 21 EOD squadron arrives in Saudi Arabia today with the remainder, up to a total of 200, arriving a week later. They will move to Kuwait after acclimatisation. These deployments are likely to be of varying lengths, but are not expected to exceed four months.