Agence France-Presse, Denmark, a U.S. ally in the war in Iraq, will send four helicopters and 55 soldiers in the coming days to assist British troops in the southern base command of Basra, an official said July 24.
“Four Fennec helicopters as well as 55 men will participate in the surveillance and observation missions to assist the British troops,” Nils Ole Markussen, spokesman for Defence Command Denmark (FKO) told AFP.
The deployment was announced in February by the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as Denmark announced the withdrawal in August of its 430 ground troops stationed in Basra in southern Iraq under British command.
Spokesman Markussen did not give a date for the unit’s departure “for security reasons.”
Denmark had earlier deployed these unarmed helicopters in 2005 for a similar temporary mission under British command in Iraq.
That mission runs out by the end of this year, following a government decision approved by the Danish parliament.
Denmark deployed troops in Basra in the summer of 2003 and seven Danish soldiers have been killed since then.
