Washington has delivered a first consignment of armoured Humvees to Iraq, which will be refurbished before being handed over to Iraqi forces. The US will deliver 8,500 vehicles by July.

The Humvee shipment was one of a series of major arms sales which Iraq concluded with the US in late 2008.

US forces have also begun training 28 Iraqis on the M1A1 Abrams tank. Once their training is complete, the crews will train other Iraqi crews before taking a delivery of tanks from the US.