Italy will send 500 troops to protect workers who are repairing the Mosul Dam, northern Iraq, the country’s defence minister revealed on Monday.

During a visit to Baghdad, Roberta Pinotti said the soldiers would arrive in Iraq at the end of the month.

Located approximately 35 kilometres north of Mosul, the dam is near areas under the control of Daesh militants. In February, the Iraqi government signed a $296 million contract with Italy’s Trevi Group to repair the 3.6 kilometre long dam which has suffered structural damage.

During a meeting with Nechervan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq yesterday, Pinotti stressed the importance of cooperation between the Peshmerga forces and the international coalition against terror.

About 380 Italian troops are already in Iraq training local forces in Baghdad and Irbil. Thirty others are located in the American bases in Fallujah and Ramadi.