Britain to send arms worth $2.6 mn to Iraq

The British government will send a consignment of heavy machine guns and ammunition worth 1.6 million pounds (2.6 million dollars) to Iraqi government to help fight the Islamic State (IS), the British defence ministry said Tuesday.

The equipments, scheduled to arrive in Iraq Wednesday and would cost estimated 475,000 pounds in shipping, were sent at the request of the Iraq's government, Xinhua quoted a defence ministry statement as saying.

The British government believed that this would give the Kurdish Peshmerga forces additional firepower to help them defend the front line, protect civilians and push back the Islamic State advances.

"I am pleased that we will supply weapons to the Kurdish forces who are at the front line of combating their violent extremism," said British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

We have already provided body armour and other protective equipment as well as ammunition from our partners; these weapons will help the Kurdish forces in taking the fight to these barbaric terrorists, said Fallon.