Canada will send up to 20 police officers to Iraq to help local authorities establish a police presence in Mosul, which was recently liberated from the Islamic State group, the government announced Wednesday.

The officers are scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks, joining three Canadian police officers already on the ground.

They are expected to stay until March 2019.

"Progress has been made in Iraq with the liberation of Mosul, and Canada remains fully committed to supporting the Iraqi government and its people," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in a statement.

"Canada's policing contribution will be targeted at building key capacities of Iraqi security institutions and enhancing local policing skill sets, including in areas such as community policing," he said.

Most of the police infrastructure in the city, which took eight months of gruelling fighting to retake, was destroyed. 

Nearly one million residents fled, but have started to return.

Source: AFP