NATO said on Tuesday it would take ‘some personnel’ out of Iraq because of the increased risk to their safety after the US killed a top Iranian general there.

The withdrawal is temporary but ‘the safety of our personnel is paramount’, a NATO official said.

The military alliance announced on Saturday it had suspended its training mission in Iraq.

The transnational organization has been in the country advising Iraqi defence forces how to prevent the resurgence of ISIS after they were defeated in the early months of 2019.

NATO spokesman Dylan White said in an emailed statement on Saturday: ‘The safety of our personnel in Iraq is paramount. We continue to take all precautions necessary.’

The statement did not explicitly say why the training had stopped.

Read more: daily mail