"The US military's current program to train Iraqi opposition volunteers has been suspended with the departure of the second group of Free Iraqi Forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom," Major General David Barno, the training task force commander, said in the statement.

The trainees were coordinating and providing humanitarian assistance in Iraq, said the statement, which did not say why the training program was suspended.

Hungary, a NATO member, has allowed the US army to train up to 3,000 Iraqi exiles at its southern Taszar military base.

The United States has said the Iraqis will not be serving with frontline combat units but would help the US military and humanitarian groups liaise with the local population in Iraq after the war.

A first group of Iraqi exiles, most of whom had been living in North America, completed the program in January and has been deployed with US forces in the Gulf region.

The second group counted about 26 people who were recruited in Western Europe.

According to US officials in Washington, the exiles were trained for two weeks in the use of a 9-mm pistol, the use of chemical, biological and nuclear protective gear, basic first aid, map reading, military customs and courtesy, and the rules of war, including the Geneva Conventions.

The second half of the course was devoted to civil affairs training.

SPACE.WIRE