ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani has ordered the return of 500 soldiers who are receiving training in Pakistan because of tensions with India, the Iraqi defense ministry announced on Saturday.
Sudani “has ordered the return of a training regiment consisting of 500 officers and [other various] ranks belonging to the Second Regiment of the 66th Brigade in the Second Special Forces Division, currently in Pakistan under a prior training agreement, back to Iraq, due to the current situation in Pakistan,” the ministry said in a statement.
It added that the move “comes out of concern for the safety of our heroic armed forces personnel.”
India and Pakistan have been engaged in a rapidly escalating military confrontation for weeks, their most significant clash in decades. It was sparked by a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-held Kashmir late last month. There are global appeals for the two nuclear-armed nations to de-escalate and avoid a full-fledged war.
