More UK trainers to fight IS

Britain is to send a further 125 Army trainers to Iraq to help with the fight against the Islamic State terror group, prime minister David Cameron has announced.

Speaking at the G7 summit of major industrialised states in Germany, Cameron described the fight against Islamist extremism as “the biggest challenge” currently faced by Britain and the international community.

The deployment, responding to a request from prime minister Haider al-Abadi, will bring to 275 the number of UK military personnel in Iraq supporting the Baghdad government and Kurdish authorities in their struggle with IS, which has seized large swathes of the country and neighbouring Syria.