ROME, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - Italy will send 280 soldiers to train Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq to consult the Iraqi high command, Italy's Defense Minister said speaking at parliament.
As well as soldiers, Italy will send a KC-767 in-flight refuelling plane and two Predator drones to Iraq, Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti told parliament Thursday, according to the Italian agency ANSA.
"It [the move] deals in particular with ammunition for heavy machine guns and ammunition for anti-tank systems of the type used by Kurdish forces," Pinotti added as quoted by ANSA.
Pinotti also said that members of the Kurdish military are being sent to Italy to undergo training in the use of arms already provided by Italy.
Italy and Germany announced their readiness to deliver weapons and other military equipment to Kurds fighting the Islamic State in August.
The Islamic State is a Sunni extremist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq, seizing vast areas in both countries and announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
Kurds are one of the ethnic groups in Iraq and Syria that have suffered greatly from IS violence.
