MORE than 300 Australian troops will be deployed to Iraq for a training mission, starting tomorrow.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the 300 strong force, first announced last month, will be largely from army’s 7th Brigade in Brisbane and will serve alongside New Zealanders at the Taji military complex, north of Baghdad

Federal cabinet has approved the deployment of the additional Australian troops to the Middle East to help train Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State.

The deployment will be for two years from the middle of May.

“It is a dangerous place and I can’t tell you that this is risk-free,” Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

media_camera Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, addresses members of the Special Operations Task Group during his visit to the Middle East Region.

About 200 Australian special forces are already based in Iraq to help train Iraqi forces, but about 170 soldiers will begin returning home in September.

The Prime Minister said the 330-strong force were being deployed on the invitation of the Iraqi Government.

“We won’t have a combat role. It’s a training mission not a combat mission,” Mr Abbott said.

“What we’ll be doing is comparable to what a number of other countries are doing.”

He said Australian forces were not launching air strikes inside Syria, but were providing support to Coalition air operations.

“We are supporting air strikes by other coalition partners inside Syria,” he said.

The deployment will start tomorrow with forces operational by the middle of May.

Originally published as More Aussie troops deployed to Iraq