OTTAWA Canada intends to extend and expand its ongoing military mission against Islamic State extremists, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.

Harper said Wednesday that he will be seeking parliamentary approval to extend the six-month mission, now set to expire in early April.

He said more details about the new mission would be unveiled next week, including whether the bombing campaign by CF-18s on targets in Iraq will be extended to Syria.

"The current mission was authorized in the fall and that authority comes due fairly shortly," Harper said.

"Next week it is the government's plan to move forward with a request for Parliament for extension and expansion of the mission. I will obviously give more details when we do that," Harper said, during a stop in Mississauga.

Canada joined the multinational campaign against Islamic State extremists in September, when it announced that a team of 69 special forces soldiers were being sent to northern Iraq in a noncombat mission to train local Kurdish and Iraqi fighters.

In October, the federal government joined the air campaign striking at extremist targets in Iraq. Flying out of an airbase in Kuwait, six CF-18s are backed by an air-to-air refueler and two reconnaissance aircraft, supported by some 600 personnel on the ground.

As of March 16, the aircraft had flown a total of 631 sorties, including 412 sorties by the CF-18 fighters. Their bombing missions have so far been restricted to Iraq. Asked about that on Tuesday, Harper would not rule out expanding their mandate to include Syria, where the extremists have been operating extensively.

"I will address those issues next week. Let me just say that the current authorization laid open the possibility of going to Syria, although we have not done that," Harper said, pledging to reveal more details to MPs.