Sweden may send troops to Iraq to counter ISIS threat …

Published time: January 12, 2015 18:57

Swedish military (Reuters/Bob Strong)

Swedish Foreign Minister Margo Wallstrom said that Stockholm may send military personnel to Iraq. The troops would train soldiers to help Baghdad in its fight against Islamic State forces. The minister ruled out sending combat troops.

''We have seen the possibility of sending a smaller unit which could help train military personnel,'' Wallstrom said during a military conference in the Swedish resort of Salen on Sunday, according to Anadolu Agency.

Wallstrom did not specify the size of the potential deployment, but said the personnel would be sent exclusively to train Kurdish peshmerga forces. The Social Democratic minister noted that Germany would lead the training mission, and that Finnish troops would contribute as well.

This would be an important contribution to show that we want to share responsibility for meeting a difficult threat...this contribution will not involve active combat," she told the Local.

READ MORE: Germany wants to send more troops to help Kurds fight ISIS

''And this is again because we need to be more effective in how we meet ISILs depredations,'' Wallstrom added. ''This is an effort which many EU countries have joined in different ways.''

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq requested military assistance to help combat the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in November.

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