Germany considers expanding military support as more Iraqis killed

Gunmen killed 10 Iraqi soldiers and Shiite allied militiamen in two separate attacks on Saturday in Diyala province northeast of the capital Baghdad, a military source said.

In the first attack, five soldiers were killed and 15 wounded when gunmen assaulted a military checkpoint north of the provincial capital of Baquba, the source said.

Elsewhere north of Baquba, five members of a Shiite militia allied to the army were killed when gunmen attacked one of their positions.

Ten more were wounded in that incident.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks which come as the Iraqi forces and their allies fight the Islamic State (IS) group and other Sunni militants who have swept through much of northern and western Iraq.

Baquba is a Shiite-dominated city surrounded by many Sunni villages.

It is under the control of the Iraqi army and their Shiite allies and lies east of three roads converging on Baghdad. Holding Baquba is considered vital to defending the capital.

Germans consider expansion

The German government is considering expanding its military support to Iraqi Kurds in their fight against IS Defense Ministry sources confirmed to national media on Saturday.

Germany is currently studying plans to open a military training center in Erbil, in northern Iraq in order to provide military training to Kurdish peshmerga as well as to Iraqi soldiers, German news agency dpa reported, based on information from parliamentary sources. It also plans to send high ranking military advisers to Iraq to support military command in operations against IS.

German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen informed lawmakers of the defense committee at the federal parliament last week of the ongoing plans, the report said.

N24 news channel reported that the German army was also considering providing military training to Christian and Yezidi forces fighting against IS. 

The US asked its allies last week to provide the coalition with more support in order to better fight IS.

The German government already decided in August to supply military goods - arms and ammunition - to Iraqi Kurds but ruled out sending troops to the region to fight against IS. Germany is not participating in the US-led coalition’s airstrikes against IS in Syria and Iraq.

Germany has been hesitant about taking part in international military operations and public opinion in the country has been largely against Germany taking any military role in international conflicts. 

A recent public poll by Germany’s public television ARD showed that 58 percent of Germans were against the Merkel government’s decision to supply weapons to Iraqi Kurds, while 38 percent expressed support for it.