KUWAIT CITY, Feb 17: Some 170 German army troops have arrived in Kuwait and have begun specialized nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) warfare exercises with US and Kuwaiti troops a Kuwait military spokesman said Sunday.

“The final group of German soldiers, one of several groups that arrived over the past days came on February 13,” said the spokesman for Kuwait’s Armed Forces.

The arrival was unannounced. The commander of the US’s Central Command, Army General Tommy Franks, told journalists during his visit to Kuwait last week that the German-US-Kuwaiti manoeuvres had been pre-scheduled, and were not specifically in response to threatening talk currently coming from Washington that Iraq continues to pose a danger to the region with its presumed potential to manufacture weapons of mass destruction.

The German troops brought with them highly specialized equipment designed to detect and combat nuclear, biological or chemical attacks,” said the spokesman

A US military source said the US asked the Germans to participate in the exercises because of their specialized knowledge of NBC warfare, but particularly because of the technologically superior German equipment. Most of the German troops come from the ABC-Abwehrbataillon 7 in Hoxter.

The majority will stay in Kuwait for one month. They will engage in separate exercises with the US forces already stationed in the Gulf state, as well as with Kuwaiti troops. They will also exercise tri-laterally, said the spokesman.

“This will provide a good opportunity to learn from the Germans and take from their experience in this field, as well as to learn about their specialized equipment,” said the spokesman.

The troops are currently participating in a yearly manoeuvre organized by US military dubbed “Iris Gold,” to be followed by “Intrinsic Action,” and later by a Kuwaiti-led exercise involving military and National Guard forces called “Rigga.”

Following the month-long core exercises, an undisclosed number of German forces will stay behind for an additional two months to engage in further training exchanges, the spokesman added,

The manoeuvres fall under a post-Gulf defence pact signed between the United States and Kuwait.

The US-led military coalition freed Kuwait from a seven-month Iraqi occupation during the 1991 Gulf War.—dpa