New Zealand troops head to Iraq

New Shub, Wednesday 11 May 2016 – A new round of New Zealand troops is about to settle in north of Baghdad. They will continue training Iraqi soldiers in the conflict against ISIS.
New Zealand has had military personnel in Iraq since May last year, helping Australian soldiers train Iraqi forces.
As part of the two-year mission, a new rotation of about 100 troops have now flown out to camp Taji – a joint operation between the NZDF and the Australian Defence Force north of Baghdad – to relieve the contingent currently there.
Major General Tim Gall says the operation had trained about 5000 Iraqi soldiers so far, with some involved in the assault to retake the central city of Ramadi from ISIS last year.
“Two other groups we trained are supporting offensive operations in other parts of Iraq,” he says.
He said for many of the New Zealanders, it would be their first deployment and the conditions would prove challenging.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister John Key said he was lukewarm to the idea of extending the current mission beyond its 2017 end date, saying he thought two years was “good enough”.