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Counter-IED specialists to train Peshmerga

 20 Mar 15 Tags: , ,

Army trainers are heading to Northern Iraq, along with 1,000 bomb detectors.

The specialists drawn from across the Army, will be based in the Kurdish capital Erbil.

So far more than 1000 Kurdish Peshmerga have completed training and the UK will lead the Coalition’s counter-IED training programme, which is due to start this month.

Troops will train Kurdish Peshmergas to use Vallon metal detectors, which were central to counter-IED efforts in Afghanistan.

 

“playing to our strengths”

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon thanked UK personnel directly, during a trip to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, this week.

He met troops from 2nd Battalion, Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, and received a briefing on the key role they are playing in the training programme to build the capacity of the Iraqi Security Forces.

Mr Fallon said: “I am proud of the work the 400 personnel based here are doing to help the Iraqi Government to defend their country against the ISIL ‘cancer’.

“While this fight will take time, the coalition’s airstrikes are having a direct effect in supporting Iraqi ground operations against ISIL.

“In the North, areas around Mount Sinjar have been retaken, bringing relief to the local Yazidi population and applying pressure to ISIL forces in Mosul. In the South, Iraqi forces operations are beginning to push back ISIL.

“Britain’s contribution is playing to our strengths. By leading the counter-IED training this month our troops will be using their expertise to give Iraqi forces a vital capability in taking the fight to ISIL.”

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