More US advisors arrive in Iraq for security assessment

Four teams of 50 US advisors arrived in Baghdad to help the Iraqi military counter terrorist threats, media reported Friday.

US forces in Baghdad have started the first of two planned joint operations centres in Iraq to assess the security situation in the wake of the rapid territorial gains made by Sunni militants, Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren said Thursday.

"It will serve as a centre where information that's coming in from the various teams of advisors can be consolidated and analysed," Xinhua quoted Warren as saying.

Warren said that the deployments are spreading all across Baghdad and are assessing the Iraqi military.

They are part of the 300 US military advisors President Barack Obama ordered to station in Iraq to assess the offensive led by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), that have overrun towns and cities across the country's north and west while continuing to move closer to Baghdad, Warren said.

The assessment teams mainly comprise the US Army's special forces personnel.

Overall, there are approximately 500 American military personnel in Iraq.

"Some of them are conducting an advise and assist mission, some are manning the joint operations centre while others are part of anti-terrorism security cooperation platoon," Warren said.