"Kurdish brigades belonging to the Iraqi army will participate in the security operation in Baghdad," said Jaafar al-Sheikh Mustafa, minister for peshmerga affairs.

"Peshmerga forces will not take part in this operation," he said in reference to Kurdish militiamen.

Mustafa said there are three brigades belonging to the Iraqi defence ministry in Kurdistan that are based in Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk.

"The defence ministry alone is authorised to move these brigades to any region in Iraq. These brigades are outside the formation of the peshmerga and not linked to the control of the regional (Kurdistan) government," he told AFP.

Some Western media had reported that peshmerga forces were expected to be deployed to Baghdad to take part in the revised security plan announced by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday.

The New York Times said recently that the additional Iraqi troops were to support the "surge" in the around 132,000-stong US garrison in Iraq.

To secure Baghdad, US President George W. Bush is also expected to send 20,000 more troops to the violence-wracked capital.

Bush's new strategy, to be unveiled in a televised address possibly as early as Wednesday, follows weeks of introspection for his administration after Democrats routed Republicans in congressional elections last November.

Iraqi and US forces implemented a joint security plan in June 2006 that has failed to bring stability to Baghdad, where the United Nations says more than 100 people are killed daily.