Several of the 50 officers assigned to NATO's Training Implementation Mission in Iraq, led by Dutch Major General Carel Hilderink, began arriving in the country a week earlier.

The NATO experts "will contribute to the goal shared by the entire international community -- to help Iraq provide for its own peace and security", NATO's Joint Force Command (JFC) Naples said in a statement dated Saturday.

The mission's tasks include liaising with the Iraqi interim government and US-led coalition forces, helping Iraq establish defence and military headquarters and identifying Iraqi personnel for training outside the country.

The dispatch of the NATO team follows a request by the new government in Iraq for the alliance's help in training a new army and other technical assistance.

NATO's 26 member nations were only able overcome a row and agree to send the mission last month by sidestepping the delicate issue of its command. France, which supports the training mission, is opposed to it being under the command of the US-led coalition forces.

WAR.WIRE