OTTAWA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Canadian military trainers in Iraq have been involved in frequent armed clashes with Islamic State militants over the last month as a campaign against the group intensifies, defense officials said on Wednesday.
The revelation could be awkward for Canada's Liberal government, which promised that the 200-strong training force would not take part in active combat.
The trainers - who are operating with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq - occasionally opened fire first, but always acted to protect themselves or civilians, the officials said.
Since last month the Kurdish troops have been taking part in a major offensive to recapture Mosul, the Islamic State's de facto capital since its forces swept through Iraq in 2014. number of use of force engagements in the past several weeks has been substantial. When (Canadian) troops do engage with force, these are clearly localized combat conditions," said Major-General Michael Rouleau, commander of Canada's special forces.
Rouleau - who stressed the Canadians were not involved in a formal combat mission - told a news conference the soldiers had "either defended ourselves, defended friendly forces or defended civilians ... and we have done so with kinetic force".
He declined to give details - save to say the clashes had involved the use of small arms and mortars - and insisted the troops had never taken in front-line offensive operations.
Canada's previous Conservative government initially committed 70 trainers as well as six jets to bomb Islamic State targets. The Liberals pulled the planes out earlier this year, saying they were not contributing much to the military effort, and instead boosted the number of trainers to 200.