KUWAIT CITY, April 17: An advance group of some 40 Australian soldiers, part of a deployment of 450 extra troops, arrived on Sunday at an airbase in Kuwait on their way to southern Iraq, a military spokesman said. “The soldiers will prepare for the arrival of the main body of some 410 soldiers and officers over the next two weeks,” Lt-Col Mark Elliott told AFP.

The troops flew in to Ali Al-Salem Airbase, 70 kilometres northwest of Kuwait City, and will stay at US Camp Virginia, near the base, before leaving for Iraq.

The remaining troops will arrive in two batches and the whole operation is to be completed by early May, Elliott said. Their equipment is to arrive in Kuwait by sea and air.

The troops are to conduct exercises in the Kuwaiti desert before heading for Al-Muthanna province in southern Iraq, Lt-Col Elliott said.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard earlier on Sunday gave a send off barbecue to the departing soldiers.—AFP