London: Key US ally Britain today welcomed President George W Bush's plans to send more than 20,000 troops to Iraq, but said it has no intention to increase its military presence in the country.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, while hailing Bush's new strategy to control deteriorating security situation in Iraq, said UK troops were successfully quelling violence in British-controlled Basra, and there was no plan at the present time to send more troops there.

As regards to reports in a section of the media that 3,000 British troops would leave Iraq by May, she said it was 'speculation'.

US President George Bush yesterday announced extra troops to fight alongside Iraqi unit to end violence in Baghdad, and Anbar province where he said al-Qaeda terrorists were planning to take control.

But he said US commitment to Iraq was 'not open-ended, and that he expected the government in Baghdad to fulfill its own promises.

Beckett said both President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki were determined to try to come to grips with what is unquestionably a difficult situation in, particularly in Baghdad.