Britain boosts Iraq military trainers to combat Islamic State

The United Kingdom will send an additional 125 military trainers to Iraq to counter the rising threat from the Islamic State, Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday at the G-7 summit.

The prime minister's office said the military personnel were being provided at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. They will chiefly help Iraqi forces learn how to deal with improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

The extra soldiers to train Iraq's military brings the total number of British troops operating there to around 200. The United States has about 3,000 troops in Iraq, and about 650 of them are military advisers and trainers.