Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga officers begin weapons training in Germany

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga officers begin weapons training in Germany.
BERLIN,— The German military has begun training 32 Kurdish Peshmerga officers from Iraq's Kurdistan Region at an army school in Bavaria on handling weaponry provided by Berlin to support their battle against Islamic State jihadists, officials said Sunday.

The fighters, who arrived Saturday, will receive instruction on using Bundeswehr anti-tank Milan missiles, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

The training will takes place at an infantry training centre in the southern town of Hammelburg through Friday.

German military personnel this week are also due to start training Kurdish fighters in Iraq, Der Spiegel news weekly reported Saturday. That training is expected to run until the end of November, the magazine said.

Meanwhile the Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP website quoted German Der Spiegel magazine as saying that 150 officers and non-commissioned officer of the Peshmerga forces will begin training on the use of rifles G3 and rifles MG3 machine guns and rifles G36 offensive, in addition to Anti tank weapons provided by the German army. 

The magazine added that "the training will continue until the end of November,"

Late last month Berlin announced that it was sending weapons to the Peshmerga Kurdish forces in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistanwww.Ekurd.net region to help them fight off Islamic State IS militants who have seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The first proportion of German arms to fight the IS jihadi militants has arrived to Kurdistan last Thursday. The first plane has flown from the eastern city of Leipzig in Germany, on Tuesday evening across the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to Kurdistan region carrying bazooka guns, rifles and ammunition. It is expected to deliver these weapons to Kurdish Peshmerga forces to help in their fight against IS as the German government plans to provide ten thousand Kurdish fighters with weapons at a cost of 70 million Euros. 

Six paratroopers and paramedic of the German army have arrived in Erbil, capital of Kurdistan, where trainers will train Peshmerga forces on the use of weapons.

  

Kurdistan President, Massoud Barzani, met in Erbil German Defense Secretary Ursula von der Leyen last week and discussed with her the security situation in Kurdistan region and the threats posed by IS militants. Von der Leyen arrived in Kurdistan capital city of Erbil and received by the Minister of Peshmerga in the Kurdistan Regional Government, Mustafa Sayid Qadir at Erbil International Airport.

 AFP | Agencies