400 defence personnel overseas for Christmas

MORE than 400 servicemen and women will be representing Ireland on overseas missions this Christmas, the Defence Forces said yesterday.

Almost two-thirds of those — 272 troops — are in the Kosovo Force, theUN-mandated NATO-led peacekeeping mission.

A further 40 personnel are in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the remainder on military observer missions and in headquarters in Afghanistan, Congo, Ethiopia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liberia, Macedonia, Serbia, Syria and Western Sahara.