Canada to Deploy 'Several Dozen' Military Advisers to Iraq

Canada said Friday it will deploy "several dozen" military personnel to Iraq to advise security forces fighting Islamist militants in the northern part of the country.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office said the Canadians will join U.S. advisers in helping local forces "to be more effective against the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant."

"More specifically, Canadian Armed Forces members will provide strategic and tactical advice to Iraqi forces before they commence tactical operations against ISIL," it said.

The deployment will involve "several dozen members of the Canadian armed forces" initially for 30 days, the statement said, adding that they "will be present in an advisory and assistance role."

The announcement followed a U.S. call at a NATO summit in Wales for a broad international coalition "to degrade, and ultimately to destroy the threat posed by ISIL."

The so-called "Islamic State" has taken control of a swath of Syria and northern Iraq and declared the founding of an Islamic caliphate, amid mass executions and attacks on religious and ethnic minorities.

The group has beheaded two American journalists taken captive in Syria, and is threatening to kill a British hostage in response to U.S. air strikes on its forces in northern Iraq.