British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Sunday that the UK will expand its military training mission in Iraq to help train the Iraqi army deal with threats from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by ISIS.
Speaking at the summit of the G7 group of industrialized nations in Germany on Sunday he said: “We’re already the second largest contributor in terms of air strikes in Iraq, and support for the Syrian opposition.”
“But I’m announcing today that we’re increasing our training effort in Iraq. It’s a particular request the Abadi government has made, it’s a particular thing we’ve been working with the Americans on.”
Britain is to increase its military deployment in Iraq by a further 125 troops, taking the total number of UK military personnel involved in Iraq-related missions to 900.
Cameron and Obama are due to meet the Iraqi president, Haider al-Abadi, and it is expected they will discuss the continued setbacks in the fight against Isis.
The talks are expected to focus on communications equipment, training Iraqi troops and the handling of improvised explosive devices.
A further 25 additional personnel will provide training in other critical skills, including medical, equipment maintenance, manoeuvre support for bridging and crossing trenches and information operations. This will take the total number of UK personnel providing training support to the Iraqi security forces to more than 275.
