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The Italian government said on Tuesday it intended to send up to 3,000 troops to Iraq to help keep order and assist with medical and humanitarian aid.
The Italian parliament is expected to approve the proposal, outlined by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini after a debate.
"We can't allow the post-war period to make more victims than the war itself," Frattini told the Italian Senate.
Frattini described the mission mainly as an emergency operationto provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi population. The size of the contingent would number between 2,500 and 3,000 troops from the army and navy.
The troops would help with policing, mine-clearing and protecting workers providing medical assistance and distributing humanitarian aid.
The Italian government had voiced its support for the US-led war in Iraq from the beginning, but has not directly involved in any military operations.
(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2003)
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