The U.S. Defense Department is planning to send another 12,000 National Guard soldiers to Iraq, reports say.

Four states will provide the troops from four brigades to attend the involuntary mobilization, Pentagon was reported as saying by NBC Nightly News.

The report said the new orders awaited the approval of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and the one-year combat deployment would begin in early 2008.

The Pentagon said Monday that it would deploy an additional 9,000 U.S. troops to Iraq, with about half of them returning to combat ahead of schedule.

Under the U.S.'s new Iraq policy announced earlier this year, the Pentagon has increased force levels in that country by about 30,000 troops in an attempt to regain control of security and reduce violence.

HA/HAR