The US military will begin to send seven army national guard brigades with 18,000 troops to Iraq as replacement forces from next August, said Pentagon in a news release on Friday.

Two brigades will replace two active duty brigades currently in Iraq and assume responsibility for a battle space where they will conduct the full spectrum of operations, it said.

Four other brigades will be deployed "with their subordinate elements to replace a capability currently being provided by more than 160 smaller, separate units in the country," it added.

The four will have a security force mission and be assigned tasks including base defense and route security in Iraq and Kuwait.

The seventh brigade will run prisons and detainee operations, according to the news release.

Pentagon said the seven brigades have received the alert orders of the deployment so they can have the maximum time to complete their preparations.

The 33rd Brigade Combat Team of the Illinois National Guard has been also alerted to prepare for deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2008, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman on Friday.

It will help train the Afghan National Army, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2007)