BRUSSELS, Nov. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Twenty Iraqi security personnel started to receive training on Monday at the Joint Warfare Center of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Stavanger, Norway, an alliance press release said.

    The eight-day course, which is the first training conducted outside of Iraq, has been tailored to meet the needs of mid- to high-ranking Iraqi security personnel, the press release said.

    "Our NATO facility is well placed to offer our Iraqi guests training that will be extremely relevant to the challenges and opportunities they face in rebuilding their country's security institutions," said the center's director, British Army Major-General James Short.

    The center specializes in joint headquarters-level training.

    The Iraqi participants range from senior military officers to civilian staff with Iraq's Ministry of Defense and Ministry of theInterior. They were specially selected by Iraqi authorities as "key leaders" from within Iraq's security forces.

    The course focuses on the function of an operational-level headquarters and includes instruction on crisis management, command and control of forces, the operational planning process, and integration of all aspects of civil-military cooperation, including liaison with the UN and other international organizations.

    NATO, the trans-Atlantic military alliance, agreed early this month on a detailed plan for training Iraqi security forces in Iraq, involving up to 300 instructors and commanded by senior US officers.

    However, no start date has been agreed but the 26-nation alliance hoped to launch the mission as soon as possible.

    Under the plan, senior Iraqi officers will be trained in a military academy in the Baghdad region.

    NATO leaders agreed on the mission at their summit in Istanbul in June after overcoming misgivings from France and other opponents of the US-led war about whether NATO should have a role in Iraq at all. Enditem