HELSINKI (AP) — Norway’s prime minister says her country will send 120 soldiers this year to join the international campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and help train local troops there. Another 75 Norwegian soldiers will go to Afghanistan next year.
Describing the Islamic extremists’ attacks against civilians and children as “shocking,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg says the Scandinavian nation cannot ignore Iraq’s plea for international help. She said Thursday that Norwegian soldiers would not take part in any fighting but would train and assist local security forces.
The troops are expected in Iraq later this year to join a training center in the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil and one in Baghdad.
Norwegian soldiers will be deployed in Afghanistan early next year in and around the capital, Kabul.
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